Coherent has launched Verdi G20 lasers which deliver 20W of low noise output and can fit earlier Verdi G products. The laser head measures 214 x 98 x 68mm. They give a vertically (greater than 100:1) polarised output beam with M2 less than 1.1, and less than 0.02 per cent total noise measured over a wide frequency range (10Hz to 100MHz). They are backed by a 2 year/10,000 hour warranty.
The lasers are intended primarily for pumping titanium sapphire (Ti:S) continuous-wave, mode-locked and high repetition rate oscillators and amplifiers. A single laser can simultaneously pump both a Ti:S oscillator and a high-repetition regenerative amplifier, or to pump two Ti:S oscillators with sufficient power to each drive a tunable optical parametric oscillator (OPO).
The lasers use Coherent’s optically pumped semiconductor laser (OPSL) technology, which does not suffer from thermal lensing issues, enabling laser output power to be adjusted from full power down to 500mW with no effect on the output beam parameters. This is suitable for end users and OEMs performing downstream alignment tests at low power. Moreover, absence of ‘green noise’ enables the low-noise output for applications such as pumping carrier envelope phase stabilised systems.