Abstract
One of the major characteristics of the solid-state laser that distinguishes it from the more elegant gas laser is its ability to generate almost unbelievably high peak powers. Today you can go out and buy a Q-spoiled ruby laser with a peak power output in excess of 500 MW (and this figure can, of course, be further increased by the use of optical amplifiers). One naturally wonders whether there is an upper limit to the peak power that can be realized with such a laser and, if so, what mechanism is responsible for this limitation.
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© 2008 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC
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Hercher, M. (2008). Reprints of Papers from the Past. In: Boyd, R.W., Lukishova, S.G., Shen, Y. (eds) Self-focusing: Past and Present. Topics in Applied Physics, vol 114. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-34727-1_11
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-34727-1_11
Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY
Print ISBN: 978-0-387-32147-9
Online ISBN: 978-0-387-34727-1
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