Multiwatt diode-pumped Yb:YAG thin disk laser continuously tunable between 1018 and 1053 nm

A new powerful source of broadly (35-nm) tunable laser radiation in the near-infrared (near 1030 nm) wavelength range is presented. Inserting a birefringent filter into a 10-W diode-pumped Yb:YAG thin disk laser resonator gives several watts of narrow-linewidth (0.07-nm) continuously tunable cw output power. By taking advantage of the power scalability of the thin disk concept, even hundreds of watts of tunable power with near-diffraction-limited beam quality and high efficiency are feasible. Generation and amplification of subpicosecond pulses with high average and peak powers are also promising applications of the Yb:YAG thin disk laser.