2-kW average power capability of a liquid face-cooled, rotating multi-disk amplifier technology

New laser technologies reaching multi-kilowatt average powers, with the intrinsic capacity to deliver energetic pulses, are required for upcoming high-profile applications of intense lasers. We demonstrate that a diode-pumped, rotating multi-disk Yb:YAG technology, coupled with direct face-cooling by heavy water, reaches an average power of 2 kW in an 8-pass configuration, at a wavelength of 1030 nm in continuous wave mode, with a slope efficiency of 33%, an M 2 of 2.4 at highest power, and a pointing stability of 2.5 µrad rms in spite of the disk rotation. The extractable energy is 4.3 J. This face-cooled rotating multi-disk amplifier (FCRMDA) technology paves the way to increase average powers for joule class picosecond lasers, with a horizon at the 10-kW level.