Fig. 1. Schematic of the Nd:YAG ceramic PW amplifier.

Fig. 2. Nd:YAG PW consisting of a 100 μm-thick 1.5 at. % Nd:YAG core with 450 μm-thick YAG claddings. Heat is removed from the two largest surfaces.

Fig. 3. Beam quality measurement of the master oscillator.

Fig. 4. Output laser energy versus the (a) double-ended and (b) single-ended pump energy.

Fig. 5. Temporal trace of a signal pulse at the drive current of (a) 50, (b) 53, (c) 60, and (d) 110 A when double-ended pumped. The red, green, and yellow lines represent the spontaneous emission, pump beam, and current signal of the diode stacks, respectively.

Fig. 6. Output laser energy versus the (a) double-ended and (b) single-ended pump drive current. Departure from the expected behavior caused by PO occurred to the right of lines AB and CD.

Fig. 7. Paths in which the PO and ASE are found.

Fig. 8. Schematic diagram of fluorescence propagation.

Fig. 9. Two-dimensional far-field beam intensity distribution measured after amplification.