Zigzag Multirod Laser Beam Merging Approach for Brighter TEM00-Mode Solar Laser Emission from a Megawatt Solar Furnace

An alternative multirod solar laser end-side-pumping concept, based on the megawatt furnace in France, is proposed to significantly improve TEM00-mode output power level and its beam brightness through a novel zigzag merging technique. A flux homogenizer was used deliver nearly same pump multiple core-doped Nd:YAG rods within water-cooled cavity fused silica window. Compared previous multibeam station concepts for furnace, present approach can allow production of high-power beams with high brightness. average 1.06 W numerically extracted from each 1657 rods, resulting total 1.8 kW. More importantly, by mounting 399 at 30° angle inclination employing technique, maximum 5.2 kW 37 beams, averaging 141 merged beam. The highest figure merit achieved 148 W, corresponding an improvement 23 times relation experimental record.