Optimization of Yb:YAG/Cr<Superscript>4+</Superscript>:YAG composite ceramics passively Q-switched microchip lasers

The laser characteristics of laser-diode end-pumped Yb:YAG/Cr⁴⁺:YAG composite ceramics microchip passively Q-switched lasers were studied by solving the coupled rate equations numerically taking into account the reabsorption of Yb:YAG ceramics at laser wavelength. Effects of the reflectivity of the output coupler, the concentrations and thickness of the saturable absorbers, and pump beam area on the laser performance were investigated analytically. The simulation results of the Yb:YAG/Cr⁴⁺:YAG composite ceramics passively Q-switched microchip lasers were in good agreement with the experimental data. Better laser performance (high peak power, short pulse width and good optical-to-optical efficiency) of the composite Yb:YAG/Cr⁴⁺:YAG ceramics passively Q-switched laser can be obtained by using a thin Cr⁴⁺:YAG ceramic with high concentration, suitable reflectivity of the output coupler and proper pump beam diameter under high pump power intensity according to our simulations.     

Diode-pumped high-efficiency passively Q-switched Yb:CaYAlO<Subscript>4</Subscript> laser

We experimentally demonstrated a high-efficiency passively Q-switched Yb:CaYAlO₄ (Yb:CYA) laser based on a semiconductor-saturable absorber mirror (SESAM), and the output characteristics of the laser including the average output power, repetition frequency, pulse duration, pulse energy and pulse peak power were investigated by adopting output mirrors with different transmittances. When the transmittance of the output mirror was 5% and the pump power was set at about 7.76 W, a maximum average output power of as high as 2.480 W was achieved with a slope efficiency and light-to-light efficiency of the Q-switched Yb:CYA laser of up to 37.1% and 31.2%, respectively.     

Megawatt peak power, 1 kHz, 266 nm sub nanosecond laser source based on single-crystal fiber amplifier

We report the realization of a UV source based on the fourth harmonic generation with LBO/BBO of a Nd:YAG passively Q-switched oscillator amplified in a single-crystal fiber. With careful optimization of the nonlinear components and parameters, we obtain 530 mW average power at 266 nm with pulses of 540 ps at the repetition rate of 1 kHz, which represents a 22.7 % total conversion efficiency from IR to UV and nearly 1 MW peak power. The beam quality M ² is measured to be below 2.     

Passively Q-switched diode-pumped Cr:YAG/Nd:GdVO4 monolithic microchip laser

The realization of high repetition rate passively Q-switched monolithic microlaser is a challenge since a decade. To achieve this goal, we report here on the first passively Q-switched diode-pumped microchip laser based on the association of a Nd:GdVO₄ crystal and a Cr⁴⁺:YAG saturable absorber. The monolithic design consists of 1 mm long 1% doped Nd:GdVO₄ optically contacted on a 0.4 mm long Cr⁴⁺:YAG leading to a plano-plano cavity. A repetition rate as high as 85 kHz is achieved. The average output power is approximately 400 mW for 2.2 W of absorbed pump power and the pulse length is 1.1 ns.     

Narrowband, mid-infrared, seeded optical parametric generator based on non-critical CdSiP2 pumped by 120-ps, single longitudinal mode 1,064 nm pulses

In this work, we present low-threshold, efficient optical parametric generation in CdSiP₂ pumping at 1,064 nm with 120-ps-long, single longitudinal and transverse mode pulses at 230-kHz repetition rate provided by a microchip passively Q-switched master-oscillator power amplifier laser system. Seeding at the signal wavelength with a laser diode, we generated bandwidth-limited idler pulses at 6,100 nm.     

Cr,Nd:YAG self-Q-switched laser with high efficiency output

The high efficient laser performance of self-Q-switched laser in the co-doped Cr⁴⁺,Nd³⁺:YAG microchip with 1.8 mm thickness was demonstrated. The slope efficiency is varied with the reflectivity of output coupler at 1064 nm, and the highest slope efficiency of 26% was obtained for 95% reflectivity of output coupler at 1064 nm. The pulse width, the single pulse energy and the pulse repetition rate for different reflectivity of the output couplers were measured, and the experimental results agree with the numerical calculations of the passively Q-switched rate equations. This can lead to develop the diode laser pumped monolithic self-Q-switched solid-state microchip lasers, especially for the intracavity frequency-doubled solid-state microchip lasers.     

Laser diode and pumped Cr:Yag passively Q-switched yellow-green laser at 543 nm

Efficient and compact yellow green pulsed laser output at 543 nm is generated by frequency doubling of a passively Q-switched end diode-pumped Nd:YVO₄ laser at 1086 nm under the condition of sup-pressing the higher gain transition near 1064 nm. With 15 W of diode pump power and the frequency doubling crystal LBO, as high as 1.58 W output power at 543 nm is achieved. The optical to optical conversion efficiency from the corresponding Q-switched fundamental output to the yellow green output is 49%. The peak power of the Q-switched yellow green pulse laser is up to 30 kW with 5 ns pulse duration. The output power stability over 8 hours is better than 2.56% at the maximum output power. To the best of our knowledge, this is the highest watt-level laser at 543 nm generated by frequency doubling of a passively Q-switched end diode pumped Nd:YVO₄ laser at 1086 nm.     

Diode-pumped passively Q-switched mode-locked Nd:LuVO4 laser with a semiconductor saturable absorber mirror

We present a compact passively Q-switched mode-locked Nd:LuVO₄ laser run in a Z-type folded cavity with semiconductor saturable absorber mirror (SESAM). The repetition rates of the passively Q-switched pulse envelope ranges from 22.99 to 141.18 kHz as the pump power increased from 2.372 to 8.960 W. The repetition rates of mode-locked laser pulses in the Q-switched pulse envelope has 111 MHz determined by the cavity length and the mode-locked pulse duration is evaluated to be 257 ps. An average output power of 823.5 mW is achieved at the pump power of 8.96 W, corresponding to an optical conversion efficiency of 9.2%.     

Intracavity frequency doubling of an active Q-switched Nd:YAG laser with 2.25 W output power at 473 nm

An active Q-switched diode-end-pumped Nd:YAG laser is reported with 2.9 W output power on the ⁴F_3/2 → ⁴I_9/2 transitions at a pump power of 24 W. With intracavity frequency doubling using a 20-mm-long LBO, a maximum blue output power of 2.25 W is achieved at a repetition rate of 23 kHz. The conversion efficiency from the corresponding Q-switched fundamental output to blue output is 96%. The peak power of the Q-switched blue pulse is up to 610 W with 160 ns pulse width. The fluctuation of the blue output power is less than 4.0% at the maximum output power.     

Timing-jitter reduced high-repetition-rate Q-switched Nd:YVO<Subscript>4</Subscript>/Cr<Superscript>4+</Superscript>:YAG micro laser with low pump power

We report a high repetition rate Q-switched Nd:YVO₄/Cr⁴⁺:YAG micro laser with small pump power. Unwanted defects in pulse train, which are inherently large in passively Q-switched laser, was simply minimized by controlling temperature of Nd:YVO₄/Cr⁴⁺:YAG medium. When T ₀ = 90% Cr⁴⁺:YAG and R _OC = 90% output coupler were used, Q-switched Nd:YVO₄/Cr⁴⁺:YAG micro laser showed the optimum output; maximum output power of 58 mW, optical-to-optical efficiency of 9.1%, repetition rate of 1.1 MHz, and pulse width of 57 ns were achieved with 640 mW pumping. MHz-order repetition rate in Nd:YVO₄/Cr⁴⁺:YAG Q-switched laser with low pumping (<1 W) is the highest value to the best of our knowledge.     

Intracavity optical parametric oscillator pumped by passively Q-switched Nd:YLF laser

We report on a passively Q-switched end pumped Nd:YLF laser including a noncritically phase-matched KTP singly resonant intracavity optical parametric oscillator (IOPO-KTP). For the Q-switching operation we have used Cr:YAG saturable absorber. The optimized passively Q-switched Nd:YLF laser without IOPO generated linearly polarized pulses of 11.5 ns and 1.07 mJ at 1047 nm. The conversion efficiency of the optimized Q-switched pulse energy at 1047 nm to 1547 nm of a signal approached about 47%. For optimizing both Nd:YLF laser and IOPO we have numerically solved a theoretical model. We have achieved 1.6-ns duration pulses at 1547 nm with energy of 0.5 mJ and peak power of above 300 kW. The beam quality was excellent (M² ≈1).     

Simultaneous intracavity optical parametric oscillation and stimulated Raman scattering pumped by a doubly passively Q-switched Nd:GGG laser

By using a doubly passively Q-switched Nd:Gd₃Ga₅O₁₂(Nd:GGG) laser with Cr⁴⁺:YAG and GaAs as saturable absorbers as pump laser, simultaneous intracavity optical parametric oscillation and stimulated Raman scattering based on a single X-cut KTiOPO₄ (KTP) crystal have been realized. Under an incident diode pump power of 10.5 W, the output powers at the signal wave near 1,569 nm and the first Stokes emission near 1,094 nm were 218 and 72 mW, corresponding to the optical-to-optical conversion efficiencies of 2.08 and 0.69 %, respectively. The measured shortest pulse duration at the signal wave near 1,569 nm was 580 ps, generating a pulse peak power of 43.7 kW, while the minimum pulse duration at the first Stokes emission near 1,094 nm was 1.61 ns. By adjusting the tilt angle of the KTP crystal, up to the third Stokes scattering was also obtained.     

Efficient sub-nanosecond intracavity optical parametric oscillator pumped with a passively Q-switched Nd:GdVO<Subscript>4</Subscript> laser

An efficient diode-pumped passively Q-switched Nd:GdVO₄/Cr⁴⁺:YAG laser was employed to generate a high-repetition-rate, high-peak-power eye-safe laser beam with an intracavity optical parametric oscillator (OPO) based on a KTP crystal. The conversion efficiency for the average power is 8.3% from pump diode input to OPO signal output and the slope efficiency is up to 10%. At an incident pump power of 14.5 W, the compact intracavity OPO cavity, operating at 46 kHz, produces average powers at 1571 nm up to 1.2 W with a pulse width as short as 700 ps. PACS 42.60.Gd; 42.65.Yj; 42.55.X     

Continuous wave and passively Q-switched laser performance of a composite crystal bonded with three Nd:YVO<Subscript>4</Subscript> single crystals

The laser performance of a composite crystal bonded with three Nd:YVO₄ single crystals has been investigated for the first time as far as we know. The largest continuous wave output power of 2.68 W is obtained at the incident pump power of 6.2 W, giving an optical conversion efficiency of 43.1% and a slope efficiency of 45.9%. For passively Q-switched operation with Cr⁴⁺:YAG of 71% initial transmission, the shortest pulse width of 18.2 ns, the largest single-pulse energy of 19.9 μJ, and the highest peak power of 1.12 kW are achieved, with the pulse repetition rate being 44.9 kHz, at the incident pump power of 6.2 W. The composite crystal can generate more excellent laser performance, when compared with the single crystals.     

150-ps pulse Raman generator pumped by a 1-kHz sub-nanosecond passively Q-switched laser system

Raman conversion with a single Ba(NO₃)₂ crystal (barium nitrate) either in single- and double-pass travelling-wave setups has been investigated. A Master-Oscillator-Power-Amplifier (MOPA) system, based on a passively Q-switched (PQS) laser generating 500-ps pulses and delivering a total energy of 350 μJ at 1 kHz, was used as pump source for the Raman generator. The two-passes setup yielded 116-μJ, 150-ps Fourier- and diffraction-limited pulses at 1198 nm for ≈3× the Raman threshold with no additional Stokes lines, and conversion efficiency of 35%. Such results are interesting not only for direct applications of the wavelength-shifted laser source, but also for further pulse-compression and supercontinuum generation in fibers. Indeed, self-phase modulation up to 0.82 nm has been demonstrated (pulse compression down to 5 ps) as well as 120-nm supercontinuum.     

High-power passively Q-switched Nd:YVO<Subscript>4</Subscript> UV laser at 355 nm

We report on an efficient high-power passively Q-switched UV laser at 355 nm. We take into account the second threshold criterion and the thermal-lensing effect to design and realize a compact reliable passively Q-switched Nd:YVO₄ laser with Cr⁴⁺:YAG as a saturable absorber. At an incident pump power of 16.3 W, the average output power at 1064 nm reaches 6.2 W with a pulse width of 7 ns and a pulse repetition rate of 56 kHz. Employing the developed passively Q-switched laser to perform the extra-cavity harmonic generations, the maximum average output powers at 532 nm and 355 nm are up to 2.2 W and 1.62 W, respectively.     

Directly LD-pumped passively Q-switched YVO<Subscript>4</Subscript>-Nd:YVO<Subscript>4</Subscript> laser at 1.34 μm with a V<Superscript>3+</Superscript>: YAG saturable absorber

The performance of a directly LD-pumped passively Q-switched YVO₄-Nd:YVO₄ laser at 1.34 μm with a V³⁺:YAG saturable absorber was demonstrated for the first time to the best of our knowledge. The average output power of 580 mW was obtained at the pump power of 8.8 W, corresponding to the optical conversion efficiency of 6.6% and slope efficiency of 11%. The minimum pulse width was 280 ns with the pulse repetition rate of 230 kHz, which was attained with a T = 5.6% output coupler at the pump power of 8.8 W.     

Diode pumped CW and passively Q-switched Nd:LGGG laser at 1062 nm

We report a Nd:LGGG laser at 1062 nm in the operations of the continuous-wave (CW) and passively Q-switching. The maximum CW output power of 5.62 W was obtained, corresponding to an optical-to-optical conversion efficiency of 49.0% and slope efficiency of 55.9%. By using Cr⁴⁺:YAG with initial transmission of 94% as the saturable absorber, for the first time, we got the maximum passively Q-switched output power of 1.21 W, accompanied with a highest pulse repetition rate of 27.1 kHz and a shortest pulse width of 9.1 ns.     

Efficient 1.06 μm laser operation in an unprocessed Nd3+:BaGd2(MoO4)4 cleavage microchip

A 1.2 mm thick microchip cleaved from a 1.2 at.% Nd³⁺: BaGd₂(MoO₄)₄ crystal was used as the laser gain medium directly. The laser cavity mirrors were coated on the microchip without cutting and polishing. In the 1.06 μm quasi-CW laser operation, the microchip was pumped by a Ti:sapphire laser with a duty cycle of 10%, the threshold is 10 mW, and the slope efficiency is 50%. In the CW laser operation pumped by a diode laser, the threshold and slope efficiency are 140 mW and 33%, respectively. The results demonstrate that the unprocessed surfaces of the cleaved microchip have good enough flatness and parallelism for laser operation.     

Room temperature efficient continuous wave and Q-switched operation of a Ho:YAP laser

We report the continuous wave and acousto-optically Q-switched operation of a Tm:YLF-pumped Ho:YAP laser at room temperature. Continuous wave output power of 6.8 W at 2118 nm was obtained under the incident pump power of 13.4 W, corresponding to a slope efficiency of 65.6% and a conversion efficiency of 50.7%. For the Q-switched mode, a maximum pulse energy of 1.28 mJ and a minimum pulse width of 31 ns at the repetition rate of 5 kHz were achieved, resulting in a peak power of 41.3 kW. In addition, the Ho:YAP laser was employed as a pumping source of ZGP optical parametric oscillator, the total average output power of which was 3.2 W at 4.08 and 4.41 μm with a slope efficiency of 69.5%, corresponding to the diode-to-mid-IR conversion efficiency of 9.0%.