High-power CW 1048 nm Yb:YAG Dual-Ended Diode-pumped zigzag slab Laser

• The innovation of this paper lies in the use of laser diode double-end pumped Yb:YAG slab resonator to obtain high power, high beam quality 1048 nm single wavelength continuous laser output, the output power reaches the order of kilowatts, the equivalent power level of 1048 nm laser output, has not been reported in China. • It is measured that Yb:YAG surface-doped slab with 121 mm long × 11 mm width × 2 mm thickness and doped area (100 mm long × 11 mm width × 0.3 mm thickness) with 0.35 at % of Yb 3+ was Brewster-cut to provide polarized laser radiation. • It is verified that high power, CW, single-wavelength, master oscillator laser operating at 1048 nm. We developed a high-power continuous-wave (CW) 1048 nm Yb:YAG laser oscillator with a folded cavity structure. Based on a surface gain slab structure of Yb:YAG, the CW laser output property of 1030 and 1048 nm wavelengths is theoretically analyzed. In order to achieve a CW single-wavelength laser output at 1048 nm, a high-power pump and the suppression of laser oscillations at other wavelengths were required. In our experiments at 4200 W of pump power, we obtained a maximum output power of 1330 W, with an optical–optical conversion efficiency of 31 %, a maximum slope efficiency of 46.4 % and a beam quality ( β ) of 1.7 times the diffraction limit. We also proposed a laser oscillator. To the best of our knowledge, we obtained the highest power and beam quality for Yb:YAG laser oscillators at 1048 nm. This work could provide a useful platform for developing 1048 nm lasers with higher power and beam quality and increasing the accessibility of the 1048 nm regime.