Demonstration of stable, long-term operation of a nanosecond pulsed DPSSL at 10 J, 100 Hz

We report on stable, long-term operation of a diode -pumped solid-state laser (DPSSL) amplifying 15 ns pulses at 1029.5 nm wavelength to 10 J energy at 100 Hz pulse rate, corresponding to 1 kW average power, with 25.4% optical -to -optical efficiency. The laser was operated at this level for over 45 minutes (similar to 3 center dot 105 shots) in two separate runs with a rms energy stability of 1%. The laser was also operated at 7 J, 100 Hz for 4 hours (1.44 center dot 106 shots) with a rms long-term energy stability of 1% and no need for user intervention. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time that long-term reliable amplification of a kW -class high energy nanosecond pulsed DPSSL at 100 Hz has been demonstrated.