Period Continuous Tuning of an Efficient Mid-Infrared Optical Parametric Oscillator Based on a Fan-out Periodically Poled MgO-Doped Lithium Niobate

We report a period continuously tunable, efficient, mid-infrared optical parametric oscillator （OPO） based on a fan-out periodically poled MgO-doped congruent lithium niobate （PPMgLN）. The OPO is pumped by a Nd：YAG laser and a maximum idler output average power of 1.65W at 3.93μm is obtained with a pump average power of 10.5W, corresponding to the conversion efficiency of about 16% from the pump to the idler. The output spectral properties of the OPO with the fan-out crystal are analyzed. The OPO is continuously tuned over 3.78-4.58μm （idler） when fan-out periods are changed from 27.0 to 29.4μm. Compared with temperature tuning, fan-out period continuous tuning has faster tuning rate and wider tuning range.     

Wildly Tunable,High-Efficiency MgO：PPLN Mid-IR Optical Parametric Oscillator Pumped by a Yb-Fiber Laser

We demonstrate a wildly tunable, high-eFficiency mid-infrared （mid-IR） output-coupled single resonant optical parametric oscillator （OC-SRO） pumped by a Yb-fiber laser. The compact mid-infrared source employs a 50- mm-long, multi-grating MgO-doped periodically poled lithium niobate （MgO-PPLN） crystal, providing as much as 1.73 W idler power at 3.012#m, and 1.27W signal power at 1645nm, corresponding to an overall conversion efficiency of 41.7% and a slope efficiency of 77.9%. In particular, the mid-infrared output power of 1.03 W and 0.67W are obtained at 3.7μm and 3.9μm, respectively, with an optical-to-optical conversion efficiency of 14.3% and 9.3%. Furthermore, the idler light is tunable from 3 μm to 3.9 μm by changing the periods from 31 to 28.5μm, with the output power 〉1 W over 78% of the tuning range. Our experimental results are pump power limited and further mid-IR power and conversion efficiency could be obtained with a suitable high-power pump source. The total OC-SRO output power rms at 2.6 W is about 0.6% during 2 h measurement.     

Efficient Diode-Pumped Tm：YALO3 Laser with a Pump Recycling Scheme

By using a pump recycling configuration, the maximum power of 8.1 W in the wavelength range 1.935-1.938 μm is generated by a 5-ram long Tm：YAIOa （4 at.%） laser operating at 18℃ with a pump power of 24 W. The highest slope efficiency of 42% is attained, and the pump quantum efficiency is up to 100%. The Tm：YAlO3 laser is employed as a pumping source of singly-doped Ho（1%）：GdV04 laser operating at room temperature, in which continuous wave output power of greater than 0.2 W at 2.05/μm is achieved with a slope efficiency of 9%.     

A Diode-Pumped 1617 nm Single Longitudinal Mode Er：YAG Laser with Intra-Cavity Etalons

We demonstrate the continuous wave p-polarized single longitudinal mode （SLM） operation of an Er：YAG laser at 1617.6nm pumped by a diode-laser with three inserted Fabry-Perot （FP） etalons at room temperature. The Brewster angle inserted FP is applied to obtain the p-polarized laser. For free running, the maximum output power is 570 m W with a pump power of 12.5 W. An incident pump power of 12.5 W is used to generate the maximum p-polarized single longitudinal mode output power of 78.5 m W, corresponding to a slope efficiency of 1.6% and an optical-to-optical efficiency of 0.61%. The beam quality M2 is measured to be 1.15 at the highest SLM output power. This stable polarized SLM oscillation is encouraging due to its application for an injection-locked system used as a master laser.     

A novel 2-μm pulsed fiber laser based on a supercontinuum source and its application to mid-infrared supercontinuum generation

A new method to achieve 2-μm pulsed fiber lasers based on a supercontinuum(SC) is demonstrated. The incident pump light is a pulsed SC which contains a pump light and a signal light at the same time. The initial signal of the seed laser is provided by the incident pump light and amplified in the cavity. Based on this, we obtain a 2-μm pulsed laser with pulse repetition rate of 50 kHz and pulse width of 2 ns from the Tm-doped fiber laser. This 2-μm pulsed laser is amplified by two stages of fiber amplifiers, then the amplified laser is used for mid-infrared(mid-IR) SC generation in a 10-m length of ZrF4–BaF2–LaF3–AlF3–NaF(ZBLAN) fiber. An all-fiber-integrated mid-IR SC with spectrum ranging from 1.8 μm to4.3 μm is achieved. The maximal average output power of the mid-IR SC from the ZBLAN fiber is 1.24 W(average output power beyond 2.5 μm is 340 mW), corresponding to an output efficiency of 6.6% with respect to the 790-nm pump power.     

Low-threshold mid-IR MgO:PPLN optical parametric generation with high reflectivity mirror for signal wavelength

A low-threshold middle-infrared(mid-IR) MgO:PPLN optical parametric generation(OPG)pumped by a laser diode(LDl end-pumped Z-type Nd:YLF laser at 1047 nm is realized with high reflectivity(HR) mirror for signal.At repetition rate of 10 kHz,the OPG threshold of 50μJ has been achieved with HR mirror for signal.Compared with the threshold without mirror,the threshold decreases by 17%.Using HR mirror for pump at output side of crystal,the threshold of 40μJ is achieved.The 2.7-4.1μm continuous tunable output is produced with seven grating periods from 28.5 to 31.5μm and temperatures from 30 to 200℃.When the incident average pump power is 3 W.the OPG idler output power is 0.46 W at 3.26 μm,which corresponds to optical-to-optical conversion efficiency up to 15.3%.     

Low-threshold mid-IR MgO:PPLN optical parametric generation with high reflectivity mirror for signal wavelength

A low-threshold middle-infrared(mid-IR)MgO:PPLN optical parametric generation(OPG)pumped by a laser diode(LD)end-pumped Z-type Nd:YLF laser at 1047 nm is realized with high reflectivity(HR) mirror for signal.At repetition rate of 10 kHz,the OPG threshold of 50μJ has been achieved with HR mirror for signal.Compared with the threshold without mirror,the threshold decreases by 17%.Using HR mirror for pump at output side of crystal,the threshold of 40μJ is achieved.The 2.7-4.1μm continuous tunable output is produced with seven grating periods from 28.5 to 31.5μm and temperatures from 30 to 200℃.When the incident average pump power is 3 W,the OPG idler output power is 0.46 W at 3.26μm,which corresponds to optical-to-optical conversion efficiency up to 15.3%.     

A ZnGeP2 Optical Parametric Oscillator with Mid-IR Output Power 3W Pumped by a Tm,Ho:GdVO4 Laser

We report an efficient mid-infrared optical parametric oscillator （OPO） pumped by a pulsed Tm,Ho-codoped GdVO4 laser. The IO-W Tm,Ho：GdVO4 laser pumped by a 801 nm diode produces 20ns pulses with a repetition rate of lO kHz at wavelength of 2.0481μm. The ZnGeP2 （ZGP） OPO produces 15-ns pulses in the spectral regions 3.65-3.8μm and 4.45-4.65μm simultaneously. More than 3 W of mid-IR output power can be generated with a total OPO slope efficiency greater than 58% corresponding to incident 2μm pump power. The diode laser pump to mid-IR optical conversion efficiency is about 12%.     

High Power Continuous-Wave Diode-End-Pumped 1.34-μm Nd：GdVO4 Laser

A high power cw all-solid-state 1.34-μm Nd：GdVO4 laser is experimentally demonstrated. With a diode-double-end-pumped configuration and a simple plane-parallel cavity, a maximum output power of 27.9 W is obtained at incident pump power of 96 W, introducing a slope efficiency of 35.4%. To the best of our knowledge, this is the highest output power of diode-end-pumped 1.3-μm laser. With the experimental data, the thermal-stress- resistance figure of merit of Nd：GdVO4 crystal with 0.3 at% Nd^3＋ doped level is calculated to be larger than 9.94 W/cm.     

Widely continuous-tunable 2.789-4.957 μm twin- MgO：PPLN cascaded optical parametric oscillator

An all-solid-state mid-infrared optical parametric oscillator with wide tunability by using two identical multi-grating periodically poled 5-mol.-% MgO-doped lithium niobate cascaded is reported. The pump laser is an acousto-optically Q-switched Nd：YAG laser with 150-ns pulse width at repetition rate of 10 kHz. Wide tunability from 2.789 to 4.957μm at the idler wavelength is achieved by varying the temperature from 40 to 200 ~C and translating the grating periods from 26 to 31 μm with a step of 0.5μm. When the incident pump average power is 8.15 W, the maximum idler output average power is 2.23 W at 3.344 μm and the optic-optic conversion efficiency is about 27.4%.     

Experimental Investigation of Tm3＋-Doped Silica Double-Cladding Fibre Laser

Using a Tm^3＋-doped double-cladding silica fibre, we produce a maximum cw 2.2 W output at approximately 2μm. The highest achieved slope efficiency is 29.3% respect to the launched pump power. The lowest threshold is 1.85 W using the double pass pump method with the fibre length 2. 7m, which is the lowest reported threshold of cladding pump of the ^3H4 level. The fibre laser output peak wavelength ranges from 1.967μm to 2.018μm with cavity 1 （R1 = 1 and R2=0.04） and from 1.95μm to 1.99μm with cavity 2 （R1=0.04 and R2=0.04）, as the fibre length varies.     

Mid-infrared Er:ZBLAN fiber laser reaching 3.68 μm wavelength

We report a continuous-wave Er:ZBLAN fiber laser with the operation wavelength reaching 3.68 μm.The midinfrared Er:ZBLAN fiber laser is pumped with the dual-wavelength sources consisting of a commercial laser diode at 970 nm and a homemade Tm-doped fiber laser at 1973 nm.By increasing the launched pump power at1973 nm,the laser wavelength can be switched from 3.52 to 3.68 μm.The maximum output power of 0.85 W is obtained with a slope efficiency of 25.14% with respect to the 1973 nm pump power.In the experiment,the laser emission at 3.68 μm is obtained with a significant power of 0.62 W,which is the longest emission wavelength in free-running Er:ZBLAN fiber lasers.     

A periodically poled LiNbO3 in wavelength conversion optical parametric generator from 2 to 3.88 ——4.34 μm

A periodically poled lithium niobate （PPLN） optical parametric generator （OPG） pumped by a laser diode （LD）-pumped Q-switched Tm,Ho：GdVO4 laser operated at 2.048 μm with pump pulse of 25 ns and repetition rate of 10 kHz is reported. A continuous tunable middle-infrared （mid-IR） spectrum of 3.88 - 4.34 μm is obtained by changing the crystal temperature from 50 to 124℃. When the incident pump power is 3 W, the total OPG output power is 95 mW, corresponding to optical conversion efficiency of 3.2%.     

Diode-pumped Tm:LuAG laser at room temperature

The lasing characteristics of Tm：LuAG at room temperature are reported. The maximum output power at 2.023-μm wavelength is 4.91 W and the slope efficiency is 25.39%. The mode matching between pump mode and laser mode is optimized by changing the pump beam waist radius and its location. Different output couplers are used to realize the optimal laser output. The relationship between operation temperature and output power is also discussed.     

Diode-pumped Tm:LuAG laser at room temperature

The lasing characteristics of Tm:LuAG at room temperature are reported.The maximum output power at 2.023-μm wavelength is 4.91 W and the slope efficiency is 25.39%.The mode matching between pump mode and laser mode is optimized by changing the pump beam waist radius and its location.Different output couplers are used to realize the optimal laser output.The relationship between operation temperature and output power is also discussed.     

Diode Pumped Operation of Tm,Ho：YVO4 Microchip Laser

A cryogenic and room-temperature diode pumped Tm,Ho：YVO4 microchip laser with 0.5 mm crystal length lasing around 2μm is demonstrated for the first time to our knowledge. Under cryogenic temperature of 77 K, as much as 1.2 W output and slope efficiency of 35% with respect to absorbed pump power are obtained. At temperature of 5℃ the maximum output power of 48mW is obtained at an absorbed pump power of 503 mW, representing a 9.5% optical to optical conversion efficiency. In addition, as much as 8 mW single-frequency output lasing at 2052.6 nm is achieved at room temperature of 15℃.     

Ld-Clad-Pumped All-Fiber Tm^3＋-Doped Silica Fiber Laser

The CW 39.4 W all-fiber LD-clad-pumped Tm^3＋-doped fiber laser output is reported with a slope efficiency of 34% in respect to the pump power. The all-fiber laser is made up by progressively splicing the pigtail fiber, matched FBG fiber and Tin-doped fiber. The reflective FBG and Tm-doped fiber end fresnel reflection build up the laser resonance cavity. Due to the multi-mode FBG as the reflective mirror, the output laser spectrum is multi-peaks at high power output, whereas the total spectrum width is less than 2nm at nearly 1.94μm.     

Linear Cavity Erbium—Doped Fibre Laser with Tunable Wavelength Range of 112nm

We report on a linear cavity erbium-doped fibre laser with a large tuning range of 1509-1621nm.We obtain a 1dB flat tuning range of 1538-1613 nm and a 3dB tuning range of 1516-1621 nm.The threshold at 1580 nm is 6.1mW,the slope efficiency is 0.193 and the output power is 18.2mW,when 100mW pump power at 1480nm is provided.High signal-to-noise ratios of better than 60 dB are achieved within all the tuning ranges.     

Efficient Long Wave IR Laser from Ho：YAG 2 μm Pumped ZnGeP2 Optical Parametric Oscillator

An efficient high power long wave infrared laser based on ZnGeP2 optical parametric oscillator pumped by a 2.09μm Tm：YLF/Ho：YAG laser at 10KHz pulse repetition rate is reported. The pump to idler conversion efficiency is 8% at 15.6W Ho pump power level and a quantum efficiency of 31% when the 1idler wavelength is tuned at 8.08μm. The wavelength tuning range from 8-9.1μm is also achieved by rotating the ZGP crystal.     

Widely and continuously tunable optical parametric generator based on MgO-doped periodically poled LiNbO_3 crystal

A widely and continuously tunable optical parametric generator (OPG) pumped by a 1064-nm acousto-optically Q-switched diode-end-pumped Nd:YAG laser based on MgO-doped periodically poled LiNbO3 crystal with a multigrating structure (29.2-30.4μm) is reported. A broad continuous signal spectrum of 1513-1700 nm is obtained by changing the crystal grating periods from 29.2 to 30.4μm and by tuning the crystal temperature from 30 to 180℃simultaneously. When the average pump power is 1.82 W with pulse duration of about 70 ns operating at a repetition rate of 10 kHz, the maximum signal output power of the periodically poled MgO-doped lithium niobate (PPMgLN) OPG is about 210 mW corresponding to the idler and total powers of 118.4 and 328.4 mW respectively.