Alleviation of laser-induced damage in optical materials by suppression of transient color centers formation and control of phonon population

A method for increasing a lifetime of an optical material exposed to a laser light source, the laser light source generating a laser beam having at least one wavelength λ1, the method comprising:

• providing a bleaching light source that generates a bleaching light beam having a wavelength λb, wherein λb≧3λ1;
• combining the bleaching light beam with the laser beam to generate a combined beam;
• using the combined beam for operation of a laser system including the optical material;
• and
• wherein the laser light source is pulsed, and
• wherein a temperature of the optical material is kept low while laser pulses are present in the optical material, and the temperature of the optical material is kept high when no laser pulses are present in the optical material.

A method for increasing a lifetime of an optical material exposed to a laser light source, the laser light source generating a laser beam having at least one wavelength, the method comprising:

• using a bleaching light beam to depopulate a defect energy level inside a band gap of the optical material, the bleaching light beam having at least a 3× wavelength than any wavelength of the laser beam;
• determining an average lifetime as a function of temperature of the optical material to yield an optimized temperature that results in a maximum lifetime;
• and
• using the optical material within a temperature range such that the lifetime is within at least one-half of the maximum lifetime.

A laser system comprising:

• a laser light source for generating a laser beam having at least one wavelength λ1;
• a bleaching light source for generating a bleaching light beam having a wavelength λb, wherein λb≧3λ1;
• a beam combiner for combining the bleaching light beam with the laser beam to generate a combined beam;
• and
• a temperature-controlled environment for optical material of the laser system, the temperature-controlled environment for using the optical material within a temperature range such that a lifetime of the optical material is within at least one-half of a maximum lifetime, the maximum lifetime being determined by reference to an average lifetime as a function of temperature of the optical material, which yields an optimized temperature that results in the maximum lifetime.