Dynamic thermal analysis of pulsed blue diode pumped Ti:Sapphire amplifiers

Abstract

We simulated the time-dependent temperature profiles inside a blue diode pumped Ti:Sapphire (Ti:Sa) laser amplifier for several different pulsed pump configurations using a discrete element method, including temperature-dependent thermal conductivity and specific heat capacity of Ti:Sa crystals. Furthermore, we calculated the resulting focal length of the thermal lenses using the optical path differences through the crystal.