Abstract: Presented herein is a multipass optical amplifier including a thin-disk gain medium, a first reflective element optically coupled to the gain medium, a first parabolic reflector in optical communication with the gain medium and the first reflective element, a second parabolic reflector in optical communication with the first parabolic reflector, and a second reflective element in optical communication with the second parabolic reflector. The amplifier also includes a pump source, a signal beam source, and a chamber having first and second regions configured about the multipass optical amplifier with a port that extracts gas from the chamber. The first region includes the first parabolic reflector, the gain medium, and the first reflective element. The second region of the chamber includes the second reflective element and the second parabolic reflector. An input optic propagates the signal beam through the amplifier to impinge the gain medium multiple times for gain.

Abstract: The various laser architectures described herein provide increased gain of optical energy as well as compensation of optical phase distortions in a thin disk gain medium. An optical amplifier presented herein provides for scalable high energy extraction and gains based on a number of passes of the signal beam through a gain medium. Multiple, spatially separate, optical paths may also be passed through the same gain region to provide gain clearing by splitting off a small percentage of an output pulse and sending it back through the amplifier along a slightly different path. By clearing out the residual gain, uniform signal amplitudes can be obtained.