<title>Cooled Yb:YAG for high-power solid state lasers</title>

The development of high-average-power solid-state lasers with good beam quality has been limited primarily by thermo- optic distortions in the laser gain medium. Cooling Yb:YAG gain media to cryogenic temperatures promises to significantly reduce thermo-optic distortions relative to 300 K Nd:YAG. Preliminary results have been obtained for a diode-pumped, cooled Yb:YAG laser operating at 1.03 micrometers , and the experiments to date verify a large reduction in thermo-optic effects.