A 1kHz Fe:ZnSe Laser Gain-Switched by a ZnGeP_2 Optical Parametric Oscillator at 77 K

We demonstrate a Fe:ZnSe laser gain-switched by a 2.9 m ZnGeP_2 optical parametric oscillator under pulse repetition frequency of 1 kHz at liquid nitrogen temperature of 77 K. The maximum output power is 63 m W with pulse duration of 34.4 ns. The wavelength covers 3686.6–4088.6 nm and centers at 3897.7 nm. The output power decreases with increasing the temperature of the crystal in 77–222 K.     

A Gain-Switched Fe:ZnSe Laser Pumped by a Pulsed Ho,Pr:LLF Laser

We demonstrate a gain-switched Fe:ZnSe laser pumped by a 2958 nm pulsed Ho,Pr:LLF laser. The maximum single pulse energy is 16.4uJ with a minimum pulse duration of 13.9 ns at the pulse repetition frequency of1 Hz when the Fe:ZnSe crystal is cooled to 77 K by liquid nitrogen, corresponding to a slope efficiency of 22.9%.The central wavelength and FWHM linewidth are 3957.4 nm and 23.2 nm, respectively. The output energy monotonically decreases as the crystal temperature increases in the range 77–293 K.     

A single-longitudinal-mode continuous-wave Ho~(3+):YVO_4 laser at 2.05 μm pumped by a Tm-fibre laser

We present a single-longitudinal-mode continuous-wave Ho~(3+):YVO_4 laser at 2.05 μm pumped by a Tm-doped fibre laser. Use of a cavity etalon enables spectral selectivity for single-mode operation. The highest power achieved in the single longitudinal mode at 2052.5 nm is 282 mW at a slope efficiency of 6.9%, corresponding to an optical conversion efficiency of 3.0%. These features demonstrate that this single-longitudinal-mode Ho:YVO_4 laser is suitable for use as a seed laser in some Lidar systems(e.g., coherent Lidar or differential absorption Lidar). To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report on such a single-longitudinal-mode Ho:YVO_4 laser at 2.05 μm.