High-power continuous-wave Nd:GdVO4 slab laser pumped directly into the F3/2 emitting level

95.6 W continuous-wave laser power output in 880 nm LD partially end-pumped Nd:GdVO₄ slab laser with a hybrid resonator is presented. The slope efficiency and optical-to-optical efficiency were 46.5% and nearly 42.6%, respectively. At the output power of 82 W, beam quality M² factors were 1.1 in the unstable direction and 1.36 in the stable direction, respectively.     

Compact, efficient diode-end-pumped Nd:GdVO4 slab continuous-wave 912-nm laser

A fiber-coupled laser-diode (LD) end-pumped Nd:GdVO₄ slab continuous-wave (CW) 912-nm laser and an LD bar end-pumped Nd:GdVO₄ slab CW 912-nm laser are both demonstrated in this paper. Using the fiber-coupled LD of end-pumped type, a highest CW 912-nm laser output power of 10.17 W is obtained with a high optical-to-optical conversion efficiency of 24.6% and a slope efficiency of 34.5%. The measured M² factors of beam quality in x and y directions are 5.3 and 5.1, respectively. Besides, an LD bar of end-pumped type is used to realize CW 912-nm laser output, which has the advantages of compactness and low cost. When the pump power is 38.8 W, the output power is 8.87 W and the measured M² factors of beam quality in x and y directions are 16 and 1.31, respectively. In order to improve the beam quality of the 912-nm laser at x direction, a new quasi-concentric laser resonator will be designed, and an LD bar end-pumped Nd:GdVO₄ slab high-power CW 912-nm TEM₀₀ laser will be realized in the future.     

High efficiency 1341 nm Nd:GdVO<Subscript>4</Subscript> laser in-band pumped at 912 nm

A high-efficiency 1341 nm Nd:GdVO₄ laser in-band pumped at 912 nm is demonstrated for the first time. Using an all-solid-state Nd:GdVO₄ laser operating at 912 nm as pump source, 542 mW output was obtained with 1.14 W absorbed pump power. The slope efficiency with respect to the absorbed pump power was 56.6%, and the fluctuation of the output power was better than 2.6% in the given 30 min. The beam quality factor M ₂ is 1.15.     

Characteristics of Nd：GdVO4 Laser with Different Nd-Doping Concentrations

We report the properties of a compact diode-pumped continuous-wave Nd：GdV04 laser with a linear cavity and different Nd-doped laser crystals. In a 0.2at.% Nd-doped Nd：GdVO4 laser, 1.54 W output laser power is achieved at 912nm wavelength with a slope efficiency of 24.8% at an absorbed pump power of 9.4W. With 0.3at.% Nd-doping concentration, we can obtain the either single-wavelength emission at 1064nm or 912nm or the dual-wavelength emission at 1064nm and 912nm by controlling the incident pump power. From an incident pump power of 11.6 W, the 1064nm emission between ^4Fa/2 and ^4I11/2 is suppressed completely by the 912nm emission between ^4Fa/2 and ^4I9/2. We obtain 670 mW output of the 912nm single-wavelength laser emission with a slope efficiency of 5.5% by taking an incident pump power of 18.4 W. Using a Nd：GdV04 laser with 0.4at.% Nd-doping concentration, we obtain either the single-wavelength emission at 1064nm or the dual-wavelength emission at both 1064nm and 912nm by increasing the incident pump power. We observe a strong competition process in the dualavelength laser.     

494.5 nm generation by sum-frequency mixing of diode pumped neodymium lasers

We report a coherent radiation at 494.5 nm by intra-cavity sum-frequency generation of 912 nm Nd:GdVO₄ laser and 1080 nm Nd:CaYAlO₄ laser. Blue laser is obtained by using a doubly folded cavity, type-II critical phase matching KTP (KTiOPO₄) crystal sum-frequency mixing. With total pump power of 33 W (13.8 W pump power for 1080 nm Nd:CaYAlO₄ laser and 19.2 W pump power for 912 nm Nd:GdVO₄ laser), TEM₀₀ mode blue laser at 494.5 nm of 1.6 W is obtained. The power stability in 30 min is better than 3.5%.     

A comparative study of continuous laser operation on the F3/2-I9/2 transitions of Nd:GdVO4 and Nd:YVO4 crystals

A comparative study of Nd:GdVO₄ and Nd:YVO₄ crystal lasers pumped by a fiber-coupled diode array has been conducted at the ⁴F_3/2-⁴I_9/2 transitions wavelengths of 912 nm and 914 nm, as well as when intracavity frequency-doubled to 456 nm and 457 nm, respectively. At the fundamental wavelength of 912 nm and second harmonic wavelength of 456 nm, maximum output powers from the Nd:GdVO₄ crystal laser were 7.85 W and 4.6 W at a pump power of 29 W. All the results obtained from Nd:GdVO₄ were superior to those of Nd:YVO₄, indicating that Nd:GdVO₄ is a more efficient laser crystal than Nd:YVO₄ for laser operation on the ⁴F_3/2-⁴I_9/2 transitions.     

26.3-W continuous-wave, diode-double-end-pumped all-solid-state Nd:GdVO4 laser operating at 1.34 μm

A high-power continuous-wave (CW) all-solid-state Nd:GdVO₄ laser operating at 1.34 μm is reported here. The laser consists of a low doped level Nd:GdVO₄ crystal double-end-pumped by two high-power fiber-coupled diode lasers and a simple plane-parallel cavity. At an incident pump power of 88.8 W, a maximum CW output of 26.3 W at 1.34 μm is obtained with a slope efficiency of 33.7%. To the best of our knowledge, this is the highest output at 1.34 μm ever generated by diode-end-pumped all-solid-state lasers.     

High-efficiency Nd:GdVO4 laser at 1341 nm under 880 nm diode laser pumping into the emitting level

Highly efficient 1341 nm continuous-wave laser under 880 nm diode laser pumping in Nd:GdVO₄ crystal is reported. Comparative results obtained by the traditional pumping at 808 nm were presented, showing that the slope efficiency and the threshold with respect to the absorbed pump power under 880 nm pumping was 34.9% higher and 12.6% lower than those of 808 nm pumping. A high slope efficiency of 49.1% was achieved under 880 nm pumping, with an optical-to-optical conversion efficiency of 41.7%.     

912 nm laser operation in diode-pumped grown-together composite Nd:GdVO4/GdVO4 crystal

Novel grown-together Nd:GdVO₄/GdVO₄ composite crystals were presented for the first time, which would be longitudinally pumped by 808 nm diode-laser to efficiently operate on continuous-wave (CW) 912 nm laser at room temperature. The maximum output power of 8.15 W at 912 nm laser was obtained successfully at the absorbed pump power of 28.0 W, giving the corresponding optical-to-optical conversion efficiency of 29.1% and the average slope-efficiency of 44.2%. Comparative experimental results show that the laser performance was influenced significantly by the Nd³⁺-doped concentration of the crystals, which would be optimized according to its energy-transfer upconversion (ETU) spectrum.     

Laser diode pumped actively Q-switched Nd:GdVO4 self-Raman laser operating at 1173 nm

A laser diode pumped actively Q-switched Nd:GdVO₄ self-Raman laser operating at 1173 nm is presented. The maximum output power was 2.26 W at an incident pump power of 18 W, with the corresponding optical conversion efficiency of 12.6%. Two different resonator configurations were investigated in order to achieve high output power and efficiency.     

High-power continuous-wave diode-end-pumped intracavity-frequency-doubled Nd:GdVO4/LBO red laser

A high-power continuous-wave (CW) diode-end-pumped intracavity-frequency-doubled red laser is reported here. The laser consists of a 0.3 at.% Nd:GdVO₄ crystal as laser gain medium, a type II non-critical phase-matched (NCPM) LBO crystal or a type I critical phase-matched (CPM) LBO crystal as frequency-doubler, and a three-mirror-folded cavity. At incident pump power of about 41 W, maximum output powers of 3.8 W and 3 W at 671 nm are obtained with corresponding optical-to-optical conversion efficiency of 9.3% and 7.5%, respectively. During half an hour, the instability of the red beam is less than 3% at output of 3 W.     

Continuous-wave Ho:GdVO4 laser pumped by Tm-doped fiber laser with a fiber Bragg grating at room temperature

We reported the Ho:GdVO₄ laser pumped by Tm-doped laser with a fiber Bragg grating. 2.03 W continuous-wave Ho:GdVO₄ laser output power is obtained under 10.5 W incident pump power, with the optical-to-optical conversion efficiency and slope efficiency of 19.3% and 32.3%, respectively, at 7 °C. We can see that, the lower the temperature is, the better the laser output character is. The beam quality factor is M² ∼ 1.29 measured by the traveling knife-edge method.     

Diode laser pumped green light source based on intracavity sum frequency generation

We report a continuous-wave (CW) green laser emission by sum-frequency mixing in Nd:GdVO₄ and Nd:YLF crystals. Using type-I critical phase-matching (CPM) LBO crystal, a green laser at 538 nm is obtained by 912 and 1313 nm intracavity sum-frequency mixing. The maximum output power of 185 mW is obtained when an incident pump laser of 18.2 W is used. At the output power level of 185 mW, the output stability is better than 3.3%.     

High power diode-pumped passively Q-switched and mode-locking Nd:GdVO4 laser at 912 nm

A high power diode-end-pumped passively Q-switched and mode-locking (QML) Nd:GdVO₄ laser at 912 nm was demonstrated for the first time, to the best of our knowledge. A Z-type laser cavity with Cr⁴⁺:YAG crystals as the intracavity saturable absorber were employed in the experiments. Influence of the initial transmission (T_U) of the saturable absorber on the QML laser performance was investigated. Using the T_U = 95% Cr⁴⁺:YAG, as much as an average output power of 2.0 W pulsed 912 nm laser was produced at an absorbed pump power of 25.0 W, then the repetition rates of the Q-switched envelope and the mode-locking pulse were ~ 224 kHz and ~ 160 MHz, respectively. Whereas the maximum output power was reduced to 1.3 W using the T_U = 90% Cr⁴⁺:YAG, we obtained a 100% modulation depth for the mode-locking pulses inside the Q-switched envelope.     

High efficiency 1341 nm Nd:GdVO<Subscript>4</Subscript> bounce laser in-band pumped at 879 nm

A high-efficiency Nd:GdVO₄ bounce laser in-band pumped at 879 nm is demonstrated for the first time. From a side-pumped Nd:GdVO₄ crystal, 8.2 W output was obtained with 18.5 W absorbed pump power. Corresponding slope efficiency with respect to the absorbed pump power was 51.4%, and the beam quality factor M2 is 1.13 and 1.15 for tangential direction and sagittal direction, respectively. Effects of crystal’s doping concentration and temperature on laser power and conversion efficiency were also investigated.     

High-power diode-end-pumped CW Nd:GdVO4 laser

We report on a high-power diode-end-pumped CW Nd:GdVO₄ laser. Under the pump power of 39.5 W, a maximum output power of 19.8 W and a slope efficiency of 58.5% were obtained. The beam quality M² at maximum output power was measured to be around 2.62. The thermal focal length in Nd:GdVO₄ crystal under the pump power from 22 to 40.6 W was measured. The pump-induced damage threshold was estimated to be 28.6 kW/cm².     

Diode-pumped passively Q-switched Nd:GdVO4 laser at 1342 nm with V:YAG saturable absorber

We have demonstrated an efficient diode-pumped passively Q-switched Nd:GdVO₄ laser working at 1342 nm by using an uncoated V³⁺:YAG crystal as the saturable absorber, in which both a-cut and c-cut Nd:GdVO₄ crystals are employed. At the maximum absorbed pump power of 9.45 W, the maximum average output power can reach 519 mW and 441 mW corresponding to the output coupler with different transmission of 3% and 10% by using an a-cut Nd:GdVO₄ crystal at 1342 nm, while the shortest pulse duration could be as low as 21.7 ns and 22.3 ns with the repetition rate of 48.41 kHz and 53.25 kHz by using a c-cut Nd:GdVO₄ crystal, corresponding to the output coupler with different transmission of 3% and 10% at 1342 nm, and the single Q-switched pulse energy are 6.67 uJ and 7.06 uJ, the pulse peak power are 307 W and 316 W, respectively. The experimental results show that c-cut Nd:GdVO₄ laser can generate shorter pulse with higher peak power in comparison with a-cut one.     

Diode-laser-array end-pumped 14.3-W CW Nd:GdVO4 solid-state laser at 1.06 μm

A diode-laser-array end-pumped efficient CW Nd:GdVO₄ laser at 1.06 μm has been developed. A low-order-mode output power of 14.3 W was obtained at the maximum available pump power of 26 W, giving an optical conversion efficiency of 55% and an average slope efficiency of 62%. The laser output beam quality factor at full pump power was determined to be M²<1.8. It is also shown that only lightly doped Nd:GdVO₄ crystals are suitable for high-power end-pumped lasers. Received: 4 May 1999 / Published online: 29 July 1999     

Diode-pumped passively Q-switched 912 nm Nd:GdVO4 laser and pulsed deep-blue laser by intracavity frequency-doubling

A diode-end-pumped passively Q-switched 912 nm Nd:GdVO₄/Cr⁴⁺:YAG laser and its efficient intracavity frequency-doubling to 456 nm deep-blue laser were demonstrated in this paper. Using a simple V-type laser cavity, pulsed 912 nm laser characteristics were investigated with two kinds of Cr⁴⁺:YAG crystal as the saturable absorbers, which have the different initial transmissivity (T_U) of 95% and 90% at 912 nm. When the T_U = 95% Cr⁴⁺:YAG was used, as much as an average output power of 2.8 W 912 nm laser was achieved at an absorbed pump power of 34.0 W, and the pulse width and the repetition rate were ∼ 40.5 ns and ∼ 76.6 kHz, respectively. To the best of our knowledge, this is the highest average output power of diode-pumped passively Q-switched Nd³⁺-doped quasi-three-level laser. Employing a BiBO as the frequency-doubling crystal, 456 nm pulsed deep-blue laser was obtained with a maximum average output power of 1.2 W at a repetition rate ∼ 42.7 kHz.     

Diode-pumped short pulse passively Q-switched 912 nm Nd:GdVO<Subscript>4</Subscript>/Cr:YAG laser at high repetition rate operation

A diode-end-pumped passively Q-switched 912 nm Nd:GdVO₄/Cr:YAG laser is demonstrated for the first time. In a concave-piano cavity, pulsed 912 nm laser performance is investigated using two kinds of Cr:YAG crystal with different unsaturated transmission (T _U) of 95% and 90% at 912 nm as the saturable absorbers. When the T _U = 90% Cr:YAG is used, as much as 2.6 W average output power for short pulsed 912 nm laser is achieved at an absorbed pump power of 34.0 W, corresponding to an optical efficiency of 7.6% and a slope efficiency of 20.3%. Moreover, 10.5 ns duration pulses and up to 2.3 kW peak power is obtained at the repetition rate around 81.6 kHz.