Volume Bragg gratings in high power laser applications

Advanced laser systems with high power, good beam quality and strong stability are always the research objectives. Volume Bragg diffractive elements recorded in photo-thermo-refractive glass have become one of the keys to the advanced laser technology development owing to their excellent optical property and diffractive ability. A detailed introduction to the applications and principles in the advanced laser technology with volume Bragg elements of different structures, including near-field filtering, spectral combining, semiconductor external-cavity spectral stabilization and chirped pulse broadening and compression, is presented. Key words: