Power scaling of laser diode pumped Pr3+:LiYF4 cw lasers: efficient laser operation at 522.6 nm, 545.9 nm, 607.2 nm, and 639.5 nm

We report efficient cw laser operation of laser diode pumped Pr(3+)-doped LiYF4 crystals in the visible spectral region. Using two InGaN laser diodes emitting at λ(P)=443.9?nm with maximum output power of 1?W each and a 2.9-mm-long crystal with a doping concentration of 0.5%, output powers of 938?mW, 418?mW, 384?mW, and 773?mW were achieved for the laser wavelengths 639.5?nm, 607.2?nm, 545.9?nm, and 522.6?nm, respectively. The maximum absorbed pump powers were approximately 1.5?W, resulting in slope efficiencies of 63.6%, 32.0%, 52.1%, and 61.5%, as well as electro-optical efficiencies of 9.4%, 4.2%, 3.8%, and 7.7%, respectively. Within these experiments, laser diode-pumped laser action at 545.9?nm was demonstrated for what is believed to be the first time.     

Room temperature,multi-wavelength operation in Er:YAG

Room temperature, multi-wavelength operation in 0.3% doped Er:YAG laser with double etalons pumped by a MgO:PPLN laser locked at 1532 nm was reported. Lasing occurred predominantly at 1645.1 nm and 1617.2 nm. 350 mW of 1645.1 nm, 160 mW of 1617.2 nm output were achieved under total incident pump power of 7 W.     

Diode-pumped Nd:YAG laser emitting at 899 nm and below

We present what is, to the best of our knowledge, the first diode-pumped Nd:YAG laser emitting at 899 nm and below, based on the (4)F(3/2) - (4)I(9/2) transition, generally used for a 946 nm emission. A power of 630 mW at 899 nm has been achieved in cw operation and 16 mW at 884 nm with a fiber-coupled laser diode emitting 9 W at 808 nm. Intracavity second-harmonic generation in cw mode has also been demonstrated with a power of 100 mW at 450 nm by using a LiB(3)O(5) nonlinear crystal.     

Low-threshold, 12-MHz, multipass-cavity femtosecond Cr4+: Forsterite laser

We report on the development of an extended-cavity, low-threshold femtosecond Cr⁴⁺:forsterite laser operating near 1270 nm. The resonator was end-pumped by a continuous-wave Yb-fiber laser at 1060 nm. The 195-MHz short cavity could be operated with absorbed threshold pump powers as low as about 300 mW. To scale up the pulse energy, the cavity length was increased by using a q-preserving multipass cavity (MPC) consisting of a flat and a curved (R = 4 m), notched high-reflector. Kerr-lens mode locking was used to generate femtosecond pulses and double-chirped mirrors were included in the cavity for dispersion compensation. With an absorbed pump power of 1250 mW, the mode-locked laser produced 4 nJ of pulse energy at an average output power of only 47 mW. The corresponding repetition rate of the extended cavity was 11.7 MHz. The pulse-width was 90 fs and the spectral bandwidth was 23 nm, corresponding to a time-bandwidth product of 0.37.     

Highly efficient, low-threshold monolithic distributed-Bragg-reflector channel waveguide laser in Al2O3:Yb3+

We report the fabrication and performance of a highly efficient, monolithic distributed-Bragg-reflector channel waveguide laser in ytterbium-doped aluminum oxide. The 1?cm long device was fabricated on a standard thermally oxidized silicon substrate and was optically pumped with a 976?nm laser diode. Single-longitudinal-mode and single-polarization operation was achieved at a wavelength of 1021.2?nm. Continuous-wave output powers of up to 47?mW and a launched pump power threshold of 10?mW resulted in a slope efficiency of 67%.     

2041.3 nm/2054.6 nm simultaneous dual-wavelength single-longitudinal-mode Tm,Ho:YVO<Subscript>4</Subscript> microchip laser

We report a single-longitudinal-mode CW diode-pumped Tm, Ho: YVO₄ microchip laser emitting at both 2041.3 and 2054.6 nm. At each wavelength, the laser has a single longitudinal mode. The total single-longitudinal-mode output power reaches 185 mW with 20.4% optical conversion efficiency at 905 mW incident pump power.     

Passively Q-switched microchip Er, Yb:YAl3(BO3)4 diode-pumped laser

We report, for the first time to our knowledge, a diode-pumped cw and passively Q-switched microchip Er, Yb:YAl(3)(BO(3))(4) laser. A maximal output power of 800 mW at 1602 nm in the cw regime was obtained at an absorbed pump power of 7.7 W. By using Co(2+):MgAl(2)O(4) as a saturable absorber, a TEM(00)-mode Q-switched average output power of 315 mW was demonstrated at 1522 nm, with pulse duration of 5 ns and pulse energy of 5.25 μJ at a repetition rate of 60 kHz.     

Diode pumped operation of tm,Ho:YAP microchip laser

Single-wave length operation of a c-cut Tm (5%), Ho (0.3%):YAP microchip laser pumped by a fiber-coup led diode-laser was reported. Under cryogenic temperature, the output power of 188 mW was obtained under the incident power of 2230 mW, corresponding to the slope efficiency was 12.2%. As much as 168 mW output and slope efficiency of 5.7% was obtained under the pump power of 3400 mW at 291 K. In addition, a maximum single-wave length output power of 60 mW at wavelength of 2130.2 nm and 14 mW at wavelength of 2102.4 nm is demonstrated under 77 and 291 K, respectively.     

Picosecond bismuth-doped fiber MOPFA for frequency conversion

We report the development of a bismuth-doped fiber master oscillator power fiber amplifier system. The system operates at 1177 nm, producing 28 ps pulses at 9.11 MHz repetition rate, with an output power of 150 mW and a peak pulse power of 580 W. We subsequently frequency double the output, resulting in a picosecond pulsed visible source operating at 588.5 nm, with a maximum average output power of 13.7 mW.     

All-solid-state continuous-wave laser systems for ionization,cooling and quantum state manipulation of beryllium ions

We describe laser systems for photoionization, Doppler cooling, and quantum state manipulation of beryllium ions. For photoionization of neutral beryllium, we have developed a continuous-wave 235 nm source obtained by two stages of frequency doubling from a diode laser at 940 nm. The system delivers up to 400 mW at 470 nm and 28 mW at 235 nm. For control of the beryllium ion, three laser wavelengths at 313 nm are produced by sum-frequency generation and second-harmonic generation from four infrared fiber lasers. Up to 7.2 W at 626 nm and 1.9 W at 313 nm are obtained using two pump beams at 1051 and 1551 nm. Intensity drifts of around 0.5 % per hour have been measured over 8 h at a 313 nm power of 1 W. These systems have been used to load beryllium ions into a segmented ion trap.     

High-conversion-efficiency, diode-pumped continuous-wave Raman laser

We demonstrate a diode-pumped cw Raman laser in H(2) with photon-conversion efficiency of (66+/-8)%. Pumped by an injection-locked diode laser at 792 nm, the Stokes laser produces a peak output power of ~16mW at 1180 nm. Accompanying the high Stokes power are deviations from the existing theory, which are believed to be caused by the thermal-lensing effect of the Raman gas.     

Laser emission from polished NdP5O14 crystals with directly applied mirrors

We report on crystal processing, laser fabrication, emission spectra and output characteristics of neodymium pentaphosphate lasers. We obtained cw oscillation with an output power of 19 mW from a crystal with dielectric mirrors directly applied on polished (001) planes. We pumped longitudinally with 280 mW of an argon ion laser at 514 nm focussed to a 94-μm diameter. Near threshold our laser operated in the vicinity of 1053 nm; when pumped 1.6 times threshold it operated dominantly in the vicinity of 1063 nm.     

Efficient generation of continuous-wave yellow light by single-pass sum-frequency mixing of a diode-pumped Nd:YVO(4) dual-wavelength laser with periodically poled lithium niobate

We report efficient generation of cw yellow light by use of single-pass sum-frequency mixing from a diode-pumped Nd:YVO(4) dual-wavelength laser with periodically poled lithium niobate. A diode-pumped Nd:YVO(4) dual-wavelength laser is implemented with a three-mirror cavity, and the optimum oscillation condition is obtained from theoretical analysis. We extracted 78 mW of power at 593 nm from 1.2 W at 1064 nm and from 1.0 W at 1342 nm in a beam with excellent quality. The output power could probably be increased to ~92 mW by antireflection coating of the crystal.     

Diode-pumped Pr(3+):KY(3)F(10) red laser

We report the first observation to our knowledge of room-temperature continuous-wave laser operation of a Pr(3+):KY(3)F(10) single crystal at 644.5 nm, pumped by a blue GaN laser diode emitting at 446 nm. With a 2.5% transmission output coupler and a nonoptimized optical cavity, an output power of 39 mW was obtained at 644.5 nm with a laser threshold of 125 mW and a differential slope efficiency of 23%.     

Room temperature single-frequency output from a diode-pumped Tm,Ho:YAP laser

Single-frequency operation in the range of 2102.45-2102.54 nm and 2130.72-2130.82 nm is demonstrated from a Tm,Ho:YAP laser at room temperature. To our knowledge, this is the first time a room temperature single-frequency Tm,Ho:YAP laser of up to 72.6 mW at 2102.5 nm with Fabry-Perot etalons has been obtained. Regulating the elevation angle of the two etalons, 42.0 mW at 2130.8 nm was obtained. The single-longitudinal-mode laser can be used as a seed laser for coherent wind measurements and differential absorption lidar systems.     

Wideband All-Polarization-Maintaining Yb-Doped Mode-Locked Fiber Laser Using a Nonlinear Optical Loop Mirror

We report on a wide-band and stable mode-locked all-polarization-maintaining fiber iaser configuration using a noniinear optical loop mirror.The central wavelength of the laser is 1080.14 nm and the 3dB bandwidth is 20.29 nm.The repetition rate of the pulse is 3.28 MHz and the pulse width is 848 ps.By tuning the pump power,which is centered at 980 nm,from 300 mW to 380 mW,we obtain a linearly changed output power from 6mW to 7.12 mW.The all-polarization-maintaining fiber configuration is fundamental to the stability of the output power.     

Low threshold, actively Q-switched Nd:YVO4 self-Raman laser and frequency doubled 588 nm yellow laser

We reported an actively Q-switched, intracavity Nd³⁺:YVO₄ self-Raman laser at 1176 nm with low threshold and high efficiency. From the extracavity frequency doubling by use of LBO nonlinear crystal, over 3.5 mW, 588 nm yellow laser is achieved. The maximum Raman laser output at is 182 mW with 1.8 W incident pump power. The threshold is only 370 mW at a pulse repetition frequency of 5 kHz. The optical conversion efficiency from incident to the Raman laser is 10%, and 1.9% from Raman laser to the yellow.     

Dye laser pumped, continuous-wave KTP optical parametric oscillators

4 (KTP) optical parametric oscillators (OPOs) with pump and idler resonant cavities. With a linear two-mirror cavity the pump power at threshold was 70 mW. The single-frequency signal and idler output wavelengths were tuned in the range of 1025 to 1040 nm and 1250 to 1380 nm by tuning the dye laser in the range of 565 to 588 nm. With a dual three-mirror cavity the threshold was 135 mW. Pumped by 500 mW of 578 nm radiation the 1040 nm single-frequency signal wave output power was 84 mW. Power and frequency stable operation with a spectral bandwidth of less than 9 MHz was obtained by piezo-electrically locking the length of the pump resonant cavity to the dye laser wavelength. Similar performance was achieved by placing the idler resonant OPO inside the resonator of the dye laser. With this system power stable and single-frequency operation was achieved with a spectral bandwidth of less than 11 MHz for the idler wave. Received: 3 February 1998/Revised version: 9 March 1998     

Second-harmonic generation of light at 544 and 272 nm from an ytterbium-doped distributed-feedback fiber laser

We report external cavity second-harmonic generation of light at 544 and 272 nm based on an ytterbium-doped distributed-feedback fiber laser. The nonlinear crystal used to generate light at 544 nm is LiNbO3, and the maximum output of the cavity is 845 mW, corresponding to a conversion efficiency of 55%. In a second frequency-doubling step, using a beta-BaBa2O4 crystal, we generate up to 115 mW of light at 272 nm with a conversion efficiency of 14%.     

Continuous-wave optical parametric oscillator based on periodically poled KTiOPO(4) and its application to spectroscopy

We report a continuous-wave, doubly resonant optical parametric oscillator (OPO) based on the nonlinear material periodically poled KTiOPO(4) and its application to spectroscopy. The OPO, which is pumped by a diode-pumped frequency-doubled Nd:YLF laser at 523 nm, has a low pump-power threshold of 25 mW and can deliver 10 mW of single-frequency output at 1.65 mum for a pump power of 200 mW. The idler wavelength can be temperature tuned at a rate of 0.73 nm/( degrees )C , and smooth tuning of the output frequency over ~3 GHz is achieved by smooth tuning of the pump laser. We demonstrate the practicality of the OPO by recording the absorption spectrum of methane near 1649 nm.