Comparison of Nd:YAG Ceramic Laser Pumped at 885nm and 808nm

Laser performance of 1064 nm domestic Nd：YAG ceramic lasers for 885 nm direct pumping and 808 nm traditional pumping are compared. Higher slope efficiency of 34% and maximum output power of 16.5 W are obtained for the 885nm pump with a 6ram length 1 at.% Nd：YAG ceramic. The advantages for 885nm direct pumping are discussed in detail. This pumping scheme for highly doping a Nd：YAG ceramic laser is considered as an available way to generate high power and good beam quality simultaneously.     

Efficient 1061 and 1329 nm laser emission of Nd:CNGG lasers under 885 nm diode pumping into the emitting level

We report an efficiency Nd:CNGG laser operating at 1061 and 1329 nm, respectively, direct pumped by a diode laser at 885 nm for the first time to our knowledge. The maximum outputs of 4.5 and 2.9 W, at 1061 and 1329 nm, respectively, are obtained in a 6-mm-thick 0.5 at % Nd:CNGG crystal with 13.5 W of absorbed pump power at 885 nm, leading to a high slope efficiency with respect to the absorbed pump power of 32.2 and 22.1%. Under traditional pumping at 808 nm, the maximum outputs of 3.9 and 2.7 W, at 1061 and 1329 nm, respectively, are obtained with 15.4 W of absorbed pump power, corresponding to the slope efficiency with respect to the absorbed pump power of 25.2 and 17.9%.     

All solid-state continuous-wave Nd:YAG laser at 1319 and 659.5 nm under direct 885 nm pumping

The continuous-wave high efficiency laser emission of Nd:YAG at the fundamental wavelength of 1319 nm and its 659.5-nm second harmonic obtained by intracavity frequency doubling with an LBO nonlinear crystal is investigated under pumping by diode laser at 885 nm (on the ⁴ F _3/2 → ⁴ I _13/2 transition). An end-pumped Nd:YAG crystal yielded 9.1 W at 1319 nm of continuous-wave output power for 18.2 W of absorbed pump power. The slope efficiency with respect to the absorbed pump power is 0.55. Furthermore, 5.2 W 659.5 nm red light is acquired by frequency doubling, resulting in an optical-to-optical efficiency with respect to the absorbed pump power of 0.286. Comparative results obtained for the pump with diode laser at 808 nm (on the ⁴ F _5/2 → ⁴ I _13/2 transition) are given in order to prove the advantages of the 885 nm wavelength pumping.     

Highly efficient continuous-wave composite Nd:YAG laser at 1,112 nm under diode pumping directly into the emitting level

We present an efficient, high-brightness laser at 1,112 nm by combining the direct pumping technique with an 885 nm laser diode and the composite crystal. Output power as high as 12.8 W at 1,112 nm is achieved under 22.2 W of absorbed pump power and it yields an optical-to-optical efficiency of 57.7 % and a slope efficiency of 64.0 % with respect to the absorbed pump power. To the best of our knowledge, both of these optical-to-optical and slope efficiencies with respect to the absorbed pump power are the highest values ever reported for 1,112 nm Nd:YAG lasers. Modeling of the temperature rise and stress induced in the laser crystals, with and without the undoped cap, and employing the pump at 808 and 885 nm are performed, respectively. Contributions of the composite crystal geometry and of the pump at 885 nm to lowering the threshold power, enhancing the optical-to-optical and the slope efficiencies with respect to the absorbed pump power are discussed, respectively.     

Laser emission in Nd:YVO<Subscript>4</Subscript> channel waveguides at 1064 nm

In this work, we report 1064 nm laser emission in Nd:YVO₄ channel waveguides fabricated by carbon implantation. Typical threshold pump powers (∼808 nm) were ≥45 mW. Maximum conversion efficiency was 11.5% (29.6% slope efficiency), and up to 9 mW of signal was delivered. Sample lengths of 4 mm were sufficient to completely absorb the pump power. The special spectral characteristics of this material such as broad absorption band and superior cross sections compared to the YAG crystal makes it suitable for developing compact sources to be integrated in optoelectronic devices.     

Comparison of 885 nm pumping and 808 nm pumping in Nd:CNGG laser operating at 1061 nm and 935 nm

A Nd:CNGG laser operated at 935 nm and 1061 nm pumped at 885 nm and 808 nm, respectively, is demonstrated. The 885 nm direct pumping scheme shows some advantages over the 808 nm traditional pumping scheme. It includes higher slope efficiency, lower threshold, and better beam quality at high output power. With the direct pumping, the slope efficiency increases by 43% and the threshold decreases by 10% compared with traditional pumping in the Nd:CNGG laser operated at 935 nm. When the Nd:CNGG laser operates at 1061 nm, the direct pumping increases the slope efficiency by 14% with a 20% reduction in the oscillation threshold.     

1064 nm Nd:YAG laser intracavity pumped at 946 nm

We present for the first time a Nd:YAG laser emitting at 1064 nm intracavity pumped by a 946 nm diode-pumped Nd:YAG laser. A 885 nm laser diode is used to pump the first Nd:YAG crystal emitting at 946 nm, and the second Nd:YAG laser emitting at 1064 nm intracavity pumped at 946 nm. We achieved an output power of 7.97 W at 1064 nm for an absorbed pump power at 946 nm of 9.55 W, corresponding to an optical efficiency of 83.4%. The beam quality M² quality factor is about 1.1 at the maximum output power.     

Highly efficient CW intracavity frequency-doubled Yb:YAG-LBO laser at 515 nm under 968 nm diode laser pumping

We describe the output performances of the 1030 nm transition in Yb:YAG under in-band pumping with diode laser at the 968 nm wavelength. An end-pumped Yb:YAG crystal yielded 1.93 W of continuous-wave (CW) output power for 9.1 W of absorbed pump power. The slope efficiency with respect to the absorbed pump power was 23.6%. Furthermore, 205 mW 515 nm green light was acquired by frequency doubling, resulting in an optical-to-optical efficiency with respect to the absorbed pump power of 2.7%. Comparative results obtained for the pump with diode laser at 940 nm are given in order to prove the advantages of the in-band pumping.     

High-efficiency Nd:YVO4 laser emission under direct pumping at 880 nm

We report a high-efficiency Nd:YVO₄ laser pumped by an all-solid-state Q-switched Ti:Sapphire laser at 880 nm in this paper. Output power at 1064 nm with different-doped Nd:YVO₄ crystals of 0.4-, 1.0- and 3.0-at.% under the 880 nm pumping was measured, respectively. Comparative results obtained by the traditional pumping at 808 nm into the highly absorbing ⁴F_5/2 level were presented, showing that the slope efficiency and the threshold with respect to the absorbed pump power of the 1.0-at.% Nd:YVO₄ laser under the 880 nm pumping was 17.5% higher and 11.5% lower than those of 808 nm pumping. In a 4-mm-thick, 1.0-at.% Nd:YVO₄ crystal, a high slope efficiency of 75% was achieved under the 880 nm pumping, with an optical-to-optical conversion efficiency of 52.4%.     

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%.     

Continuous-wave high-power multi-pass pumped thin-disc Nd:GdVO4 laser

A thin-disc Nd:GdVO₄ laser in multi-pass pumping scheme was developed. Continuous-wave output power of 13.9 W at 1.06 μm for an absorbed power at 808 nm of 22 W was demonstrated from a 250-μm thick, 0.5-at.% Nd:GdVO₄ in a 4-pass pumping; the slope efficiency in absorbed power was 0.65, or 0.47 in input power. Output performances were also investigated under diode laser pumping at 879 nm, directly into the emitting ⁴F_3/2 level: maximum power of 3.6 W was obtained at 6.2 W of absorbed power with 0.69 slope efficiency. Compared with pumping at 808 nm, into the highly absorbing ⁴F_5/2 level, improvements of laser parameter in absorbed power (increase of slope efficiency, decrease of threshold) were obtained, showing the advantages of the pumping into the emitting level. However, the laser performances expressed vs. the incident power were modest owing to the low absorption efficiency at 879 nm. Thus, increased number of passes of the medium would be necessary in order to match the performances in input power obtained under 808-nm pumping.     

Diode-pumped Nd:GGG laser at 937 nm under direct pumping

A diode-pumped 937 nm Nd:GGG laser operating on the quasi-three-level under direct pumping at wavelength of around 882 nm is demonstrated, and its performances are investigated. A maximum output power of 358 mW at 937 nm was achieved at absorbed pump power of 4.8 W. The optical-to-optical conversion efficiency and the slope efficiency relative to absorbed power were 7.5 and 11.2%, respectively.     

Nd:YAG Lasers Operating at 1064nm and 946nm by Direct Pumping and Thermally Boosted Pumping

We demonstrate a 1064nm Nd：YAG laser by directly pumping into the upper lasing level with a tunable Ti：sapphire laser. The valid wavelength is demonstrated at 868.3nm, 875.2nm, 883.8nm, and 885.5nm, respectively. To our knowledge, this is the first time that 1064nm Nd：YAG laser pumped by 875.2nm laser. In addition, laser wavelength at 946 nm is also generated by direct pumping together with traditional pumping.     

885 nm pumped,high efficiency single-frequency Nd:YAG ring laser

We report an efficient single-frequency ring laser pumped directly into emitting level by a fiber-coupled laser diode (FCLD) at 885 nm for the first time. 4.8 W laser at 1064 nm was obtained in a 0.7 at % Nd:YAG with 63% slope efficiency and 51.7% light-light efficiency in absorbed pump power. At the same time, the line width of the longitudinal mode was about 50 MHz, and the beam was nearly diffraction-limited with M2 ≈ 1.07.     

Diode-pumped continuous-wave eye-safe Nd:YAG laser at 1415 nm

We describe the output performance of the 1415 nm emission in Nd:YAG in a plane-concave cavity under traditional pumping into the 4F5/2 level (808 nm) and direct in-band pumping into the 4F3/2 level (885 nm). An end-pumped Nd:YAG laser yielded maximum cw output power of 6.3 W and 4.2 W at 885 nm and 808 nm laser diode (LD) pumping, respectively. To the best of our knowledge, this is the highest output power of a LD-pumped 1415 nm laser.     

870 mW blue laser emission at 480 nm in a large core thulium doped ZBLAN fiber laser

We report on high power 870 mW continuous wave stable laser operation at 480 nm in a 1000 ppm wt. Thulium doped multimode ZBLAN up-conversion fiber laser. The fiber is pumped by a wavelength of 1064 nm generated from diode-pumped Nd:YAG laser. A threshold of 550 mW and slope efficiency of 14% with respect to the incident pump power has been obtained. The related problem of photo-degradation associated with formation of color centers is reported. The transparency of the darkened fiber prior to the lasing operation is restored by circulating 514 nm through the fiber core. The time dependant oscillatory behavior of the emitted laser is also addressed.     

LD-pumped Nd:YAG/LBO 556 nm yellow laser

A new laser transition at 1112 nm was obtained after analyzing the parameters of the main laser transitions in Nd:YAG and calculating the transmission loss of the cavity at 1064, 1319, and 946 nm. The maximum output power of the fundamental wavelength was 610 mW, the fundamental wavelength light-to-light conversion efficiency was 38.1%, the maximum output at 556 nm was 109 mW intra-cavity frequency doubled by LBO, the SHG conversion efficiency was 17.8%, and the overall light-to-light efficiency was 6.8% for the pump power of 1.6 W.     

Efficient continuous-wave 908 nm Nd:YLF laser emission under direct 880 nm pumping

The quasi-three-level 908-nm continuous-wave laser emission under direct diode laser pumping at 880 nm into emitting level ⁴ F _3/2 of Nd:YLF have been demonstrated. An end-pumped Nd:YLF crystal yielded 4.7 W of output power for 11.8 W of absorbed pump power. The slope efficiency with respect to the absorbed pump power was 43.3%. Comparative results obtained for the pump with diode laser at 808 nm, into the highly-absorbing ⁴ F _5/2 level, are given in order to prove the advantages of the 880-nm wavelength pumping.     

Swift heavy-ion irradiated active waveguides in Nd:YAG crystals: fabrication and laser generation

An Nd:YAG planar waveguide laser has been fabricated by ultra-low-fluence (2×10(12) cm(-2)) swift heavy-ion irradiation (60 MeV Ar(4+) ions). The appearance of the buried waveguiding has been associated with an increased refractive index layer as a consequence of the ion-induced electronic damage. Continuous-wave laser oscillations at 1064.2 nm have been observed from the waveguide under 808 nm optical excitation, with the absorbed pump power at threshold and laser slope efficiency close to 26 mW and 5.9%, respectively.     

Continuous-wave high-power Nd:YAG-KNbO3 laser at 473 nm

A continuous-wave high-power Nd:YAG laser operating on the ⁴F_3/2→⁴I_9/2 transition at 946 nm and intracavity frequency-doubled to 473 nm by a KNbO₃ nonlinear crystal at room temperature is reported. The Nd:YAG laser outputs a randomly polarized beam of 3.8 W maximum power (38% optical-to-optical efficiency and 44% slope efficiency with respect to the absorbed pump power) at the 946 nm fundamental wavelength. Intracavity frequency-doubling with a 2.0-mm thick KNbO₃ crystal in a linear resonator yielded 159-mW single-ended blue-output with 4.8% optical-to-optical conversion efficiency versus the absorbed pump power. The 473-nm maximum power of 418 mW with 11.6% optical-to-optical conversion efficiency in absorbed power was obtained from a V-type resonator; the overall optical-to-optical conversion efficiency was 6.7%, while the conversion of the available infrared power reached 50%.