Void-free bonding for a large slab laser crystal.

A void-free bonding technique was demonstrated for a large slab Nd: YAG crystal with a bonding surface dimension of ∼160×70. By using the novel fluxless oxide layer removal technology, the indium-oxide barrier problem was resolved. With the help of electrochemical-polished indium solder and a plasma-cleaned heat sink, the solderability of the indium was enhanced; in particular, the contact angle of the solder was improved from 51° to 31°. With the largest-bonding-size slab, a single-slab laser created a maximum output power of 7.3 kW under an absorbed pump power of 12.8 kW, corresponding to an optical to optical efficiency of 57% and a slope conversion of 67.8%. By detecting the wavefront of the interferometer before and after bonding, the RMS of wavefront was 0.192 and 0.434 (=633), respectively. To the best of our knowledge, this is the largest void-free bonding size for a laser slab and the highest output power achieved from a single-slab crystal laser oscillator.