Transverse parasitic lasing suppression in a petawatt Ti: sapphire laser amplifier

A thermoplastic, the MeltMount 1.704 doped with carbon as an index matching material is used to suppress the transverse parasitic lasing in a 8cm Ti: sapphire laser amplifier disk. It increases the oscillation threshold from 13 to 2100 theoretically. The practical procedure of applying the material to the crystal is described. This will help in the realization of the first petawatt Ti: sapphire laser system in the world.