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.     

Influence of neodymium concentration on the strength of thermal effects in continuous-wave diode-pumped Nd:YVO4 lasers at 1064 nm

The influence of neodymium ion concentration on the continuous-wave power performance of diode-pumped Nd:YVO₄ lasers was experimentally investigated by using three crystals of approximately the same total absorption but different Nd concentrations of 0.5, 1, and 3 at.%. In situ measurements indicate that strong thermal lensing occurs in the highly doped sample (3 at.% Nd) and precludes scaling of the output power to large values. Results also show that undesirable thermal effects are dramatically reduced with decreasing active-ion concentration. The best power performance was obtained with a 10-mm-long Nd:YVO₄ sample that had 0.5 at.% Nd. In this case, up to 6.5 W of continuous-wave output power was obtained at 1064 nm by using a 3% transmitting output coupler.     

激光二极管抽运Nd:YVO4晶体的三维热效应分析

针对激光二极管抽运的以Nd:YVO4板条晶体为增益介质的激光器件,基于有限容积法数值分析各向异性介质的热传导方程,给出了Nd:YVO4晶体板条结构的热分布数值模型,并分别模拟仿真了808nm半导体激光器双端端面抽运,大面均匀抽运,大面周期分布抽运三种抽运结构,得到了Nd:YVO4板条晶体在这三种抽运结构下的非稳态时不同时刻的温度曲线和稳态时的三维温度分布切面图.     

Efficient diode-pumped Nd:YVO4 continuous-wave laser at 1.34 μm

We report a high-power continuous-wave(cw) diode-pumped efficient 1.34 μm Nd:YVO₄ laser. The laser properties of a low Nd³⁺-doped concentration of the Nd:YVO₄ crystal operating at 1.34 μm formed with a simple plane-concave cavity have been demonstrated. With the incident pump power of 22 W, an output power of 8.24 W was obtained, giving an optical conversion efficiency of 37.5% and slope efficiency of 40%. The thermal effects of cw end-pumped solid-state lasers were studied.     

Investigation of LD end-pumped Nd:YVO4 crystals with various doping levels and lengths

The absorption properties of Nd:YVO₄ crystals with various doping levels and lengths are reported. The effective stimulated emission cross-sections of different doping levels are calculated with measured upper-level lifetimes. Our investigation gives good advice on the optimization of LD end-pumped Nd:YVO₄ laser.     

Nd:YVO4自受激拉曼激光器调Q锁模特性

利用Nd:YVO4激光晶体的自受激拉曼效应,结合Cr:YAG被动锁模技术和倍频技术,实现了结构紧凑的1176 nm和588 nm黄光锁模激光输出。激光器为LD端面泵浦,三镜折叠腔结构,并且采用了透过率为10%的输出镜。Nd:YVO4晶体长度为10 mm,Nd3+离子掺杂质量分数为0.2%,Cr:YAG晶体的初始透过率为67%。10 W激光泵浦时,1176 nm激光平均输出功率为123 mW,调Q包络宽度为6 ns,调Q包络内的锁模脉冲重复频率高达1 GHz。588.2 nm 黄光的平均输出功率为8 mW。     

Efficient and compact intracavity-frequency-doubled YVO4/Nd:YVO4/KTP laser through analysis of the interaction length

In this paper, a stable end-pumped intracavity-frequency-doubled green laser was demonstrated. The interaction length of different pump systems before setting up the experiment was analyzed in order to find out an effective pump system. The experimental results indicate that the pump system in our configuration is beneficial to the efficient CW Nd lasers. A continue-grown composite crystal YVO₄/Nd:YVO₄, with Nd³⁺ concentration doping of 0.3 at.%, is used as laser medium. With an incident pump power of 27.5 W, as high as 7.2 W of CW output power at 532 nm was achieved. The optical-to-optical conversion efficiency of 26.2% was obtained in CW modes with a flat-flat cavity design.     

A novel orthogonally linearly polarized Nd:YVO4 laser

We presented a novel orthogonally linearly polarized Nd:YVO₄ laser. Two pieces of a-cut grown-together composite YVO₄/Nd:YVO₄ crystals were placed in the resonant cavity with the c-axis of the two crystals orthogonally. The polarization and power performance of the orthogonally polarized laser were investigated. A 26.2-W orthogonally linearly polarized laser was obtained. The power ratio between the two orthogonally polarized lasers was varied with the pump power caused by the polarized mode coupling. The longitudinal modes competition and the corresponding variable optical beats were also observed from the orthogonally polarized laser. We also adjusted the crystals with their c-axis parallele to each other, and a 40.7-W linearly polarized TEM₀₀ laser was obtained, and the beam quality factors were M²_x=1.37 and M²_y=1.25.     

Diode-pumped doubly Q-switched mode-locked YVO4/Nd:YVO4 laser with AO and GaAs saturable absorber

By using both acousto-optic (AO) modulator and GaAs saturable absorber, a diode-pumped doubly Q-switched and mode-locked (QML) YVO₄/Nd:YVO₄ laser is presented. The average output power and the pulse width of the Q-switched envelope have been measured. The Q-switch pulse energy of the doubly QML laser are higher than that only with GaAs. The stability of the QML laser with the dual-loss-modulation is significantly improved if compared to that only with GaAs.The experimental results show that the doubly QML YVO₄/Nd:YVO₄ laser has nearly 80% modulation depth and deeper than that of the singly passively QML pulse. The doubly Q-switched mode-locked pulse inside the Q-switched envelope has a repetition rate of 111 MHz and its pulse width is estimated to be about 700 ps. By using a hyperbolic secant square function and considering the Gaussian distribution of the intracavity photon density, the coupled equations for diode-pumped dual-loss-modulated QML laser is given and the numerical solutions of the equations are in good agreement with the experimental results.     

Effect of Nd3+ concentration on CW and pulsed performance of fiber-coupled diode laser pumped Nd:YVO4 laser at 1064 nm

The effect of Nd³⁺ concentration on the CW and Q-switched laser performances at 1064 nm from Nd: YVO₄ has been studied under diode laser pumping in identical laser configuration. The Nd³⁺ concentrations used were 1, 2 and 3 at.% in YVO₄ crystals. Under the CW operations we have compared the thermal lensing effect, slope efficiencies and also the beam quality at the fourth-order degeneracy configuration. Q-switching was done with the help of an acousto-optic modulator and we have compared the pulses obtained from Nd: YVO₄ laser with different doping concentration. It was found that the 1 at.%-doped crystal is the best, offering highest optical-to-optical conversion efficiency (55%), lowest fractional heat load (24%), highest pulse energy (80 μJ) and shortest pulse width (20 ns). It was also found that there was not much difference in performances for 2 and 3 at.%-doped crystals both in CW and Q-switched configurations.     

Semianalytical analysis of thermal effect in LD double-side-pumped rectangular laser crystal

A semianalytical method to analyze the thermal effect in a LD double-side-pumped rectangular laser crystal is put forward. Through the analysis of working characteristics of the laser crystal, a thermal model that matches actual situations of the laser crystal is established. General expressions of temperature field and thermal distortion field in the laser crystal can be obtained by a novel method to solve the heat conduction equation of orthotropic material. This semianalytical method can be used to calculate the temperature field and thermal distortion field in other LD double-side-pumped laser crystals and is applied to Nd:YVO₄ crystal in detail in this paper, and two methods of effectively reducing thermal distortion in the laser crystal are offered. Results show that a maximum temperature rise of 362.2 °C and a maximum thermal distortion of 5.55 μm are obtained in Nd:YVO₄ crystal when the output power of the two laser diodes are both 30 W. When the off-center distance is 0.6 mm, the maximum thermal distortion is reduced by 37.7%; when the thickness of the crystal is reduced from 2.0 mm to 1.4 mm, the maximum thermal distortion is reduced by 31.7%. Results in this paper can offer theoretical base for better solving thermal problems in laser system.     

Thermal effects of the diode end-pumped Nd:YVO4 slab

The thermal effects of the diode end-pumped Nd:YVO₄ slab laser crystal are investigated both analytically and numerically. The theoretical model is established with considering the divergence of the pump beam in the slab. A detailed theoretical analysis of the temperature, stress and the focal length of thermal lens are presented. Using 3D finite element analysis, an accurate numerical solution based on the theoretical model is achieved. Our analysis includes the thermal fracture damage of the thermally and optically anisotropic slab and the predicated values are compared with the experimental results.     

Analytical and Experimental Studies on Nd:YVO4/KTP Lasers Pumped by High-brightness Laser Diodes

We report analytical and experimental studies on the characteristics of a high-brightness laser diode endpumped Nd:YVO₄/KTP laser. A simple model was developed to optimize the cavity parameters and estimate the green output power of intracavity frequency doubled lasers. Using a 1 W high-brightness laser diode as the pump source, high efficiency operation was realized. The second-harmonic output power at 532 nm was measured to be 286.5 mW at an incident pump power of 881.4 mW, corresponding to an optical to optical efficiency of 32.5%.     

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%.     

全固化自锁模飞秒Ti:S激光器实验研究

首次在国内系统报道了以腔内LBO倍频Nd:YVO₄激光器为泵浦源的全固化自锁模飞秒钛宝石激光器的实验结果.设计了一种热不敏腔内LBO倍频线性折叠腔结构,获得到了25.5%的光转换效率,泵浦功率为22W时得到了5.6W的基模绿光输出功率;以该激光器为泵浦源,在线性Z型腔的基础上,使用了一种能够通过改变腔内凹面聚焦镜折叠角消除象散的方法,直接由钛宝石激光器得到了脉冲宽度为22fs、功率为300mW的光脉冲.整个激光系统稳定性好,噪音明显低于Ar³⁺激光器的泵浦情况.     

全固态紫外激光器研究

本文报道了具有增强谐振倍频腔的全固态紫外激光器研究半导体激光二极管(LD)泵浦的Nd:YVO₄激光晶体产生波长为1064nm的近红外光,腔内倍频输出波长为532nm的绿光,再送入增强谐振腔进行四倍频,输出波长为266nm的深紫外激光产生深紫外激光的基频绿光输入阈值可低到2.5mW据我们所知,这是国内首次报道的全固态紫外激光器.     

Passively Q-switched laser operation in a composite Nd:YVO4/Nd:YVO4/Nd:YVO4 crystal with a GaAs saturable absorber

By using a piece of GaAs wafer as the saturable absorber, the performance of the passively Q-switched composite Nd:YVO₄ laser with different output couplers has been demonstrated for the first time as far as we know. The largest continuous wave output power of 1.52 W is obtained at the incident pump power of 5.31 W, giving an optical conversion efficiency of 28.7% and a slope efficiency of 30.2%. The shortest pulse width of 11 ns, the largest single-pulse energy of 2.49 μJ and the highest peak power of 190 W are also obtained.     

An alternative approach to determine the fractional heat load in solid state laser materials: application to diode-pumped Nd:YVO4 laser

A simple approach is described and used for on-line measurement of the fractional heat-load parameter ξ in an operating diode-pumped Nd:YVO₄ laser at 1.06 μm wavelength for different doping concentrations. The method is based on the fact that if the thermo-optical properties of the sample are known then the ξ-parameter can be estimated from the measured effective focal length induced by the pump beam and any other lensing effect due to mechanical mounting of the sample for a given pumping configuration. The value of the fractional heat-load parameter estimated by our technique was in excellent agreement with the earlier reported values.     

800 mW/1484 nm highly efficient two-cascaded phosphosilicate Raman fiber laser pumped by Nd:YVO4 solid-state laser

Using 1064 nm CW Nd:YVO₄ solid-state laser as a pump, 1-km phosphosilicate fiber and cascaded cavities with two pairs of fiber Bragg grating mirrors for 1239 and 1484 nm, we obtained a CW 800 mW/1484 nm Raman fiber laser (RFL) for an actual incident pump power of about 2 W (Nd:YVO₄ power of 6.90 W). The conversion efficiency is as high as 40%. To the best of our knowledge, this is the highest conversion efficiency of RFL pumped by solid-state laser. The output power instability at 1484 nm in half an hour is less than 3%. In addition, the numerical simulations are also performed. Good agreement between the results of numerical simulation and the results of the experiment has been demonstrated.     

Q-switched and mode-locked diode-pumped Nd:YVO4 laser with an intracavity composite semiconductor saturable absorber

We have demonstrated a passively Q-switched and mode-locked Nd:YVO₄ laser with an intracavity composite semiconductor saturable absorber (ICSSA). Stable Q-switched and mode-locked pulses with Q-switched envelope pulse duration of 180 ns and pulse repetition rate of 72 KHz have been obtained. The maximum average output power was 1.45 W at 8 W incident pump power. The repetition rate of the mode-locked pulses inside the Q-switched envelope was 154 MHz. Experimental results revealed that this ICSSA was suitable for Q-switched and mode-locked solid-state lasers.