Highly efficient single longitudinal mode-pulsed green laser

A novel design for a highly efficient 1-kHz single-frequency green laser is proposed.An efficient singlefrequency laser pulse output at 532-nm wavelength may be obtained by combining the injection seeding with intracavity frequency doubling in a compact U-shaped cavity formed by two plano dichroic mirrors in an end-pumping arrangement.The laser is capable of producing green pulses with a total energy of 6.3 mJ at a pulse repetition rate of 1 kHz.The pulse width is about 10 ns and the optical-optical efficiency from the 808-nm pump source to the 532-nm green output is around 12.7%.     

Compact, Low Threshold Nd^3＋：YVO4 Self-Raman Laser at 1178 nm

A compact low-threshold Raman laser at 1178 nm is experimentally realized by using a diode-end-pumped actively Q-switched Nd^3＋ ：YVO4 self-Raman laser. The threshold is 370mW at a pulse repetition frequency of S kHz. The maximum Raman laser output is 182 m W with the pulse duration smaller than 20 ns at a pulse repetition frequency of 30kHz with 1.8 W incident power. The optical efficiency from the incident power to the Raman laser is 10% and the slope efficiency is 13.5%.     

Green Output of 1.5 W from a Diode-Pumped Intracavity Frequency-Doubled Self-Q-Switched and Mode-Locked Cr,Nd：YAG Laser

We report a diode-pumped intracavity frequency-doubled self-Q-switched and mode-locked Cr,Nd：YAG/KTP green laser with a Z-type cavity, which produces 1.5 W of average power at 532nm with incident pump power 14.2 W. The individual mode-locked green pulse duration is about 560ps with 149 MHz repetition rate. Almost 100% modulation depth of the mode-locked green pulses is achieved at an incident pump power of 4.13 W. The maximum energy of Q-switched green pulse is 19.8μJ. The experimental results of pulse duration and pulse energy of Q-switched green pulse agree well with the theoretical calculations.     

High Beam Quality Green Generation with Output 140W Based on a Thermally-Near-Unstable Flat-Flat Resonator

By using a diode-side-pumped Q-switched Nd:YAG rod laser based on a thermally-near-unstable fiat-fiat resonator, an intracavity-frequency-doubled green beam generation is investigated. Output power 140 W is obtained at a repetition rate of 10kHz and a pulse width of 110ns. The green beam quality factors Mx^2 and My^2, which are measured by a laser beam analyser, are 10.65 and 10.85, respectively, at output power of 124W.     

20-kHz watt-level green laser with LGS crystal electro-optic Q-switch

A diode-end-pumped electro-optic （EO） Q-switched green laser operating at the repetition rate of 20 kHz is reported. A block of La3Ga5SiO14 （LGS） single crystal is used as a Q-switch and the type I phase- matching LiB305 （LBO） is used as the nonlinear crystal in the second harmonic generation. The 2.3-W average power of 532-nm green laser is obtained at the repetition rate of 20 kHz with the pulse width as short as 10 us. When the output power is about 1.5 W, the measured power fluctuation is less than 1.4% （root-mean-square. RMS） with the beam quality factor of M^2 〈 2 in both orthogonal directions.     

Generation of Q-Switched Mode-Locked Erbium-Doped Fiber Laser Operating in Dark Regime

We demonstrate a stable Q-switched mode-locked erbium-doped fiber laser(EDFL) operating in dark regime based on the nonlinear polarization rotation technique.The EDFL produces a pulse train where the Q-switching envelope is formed by multiple dark pulses.The repetition rate of the Q-switched envelope can be increased from 0.96 kHz to 3.26 kHz,whereas the pulse width reduces from 211 μs to 86 μs.The highest pulse of 479 nJ is obtained at the pump power of 55 mW.It is also observed that the dark pulses inside the Q-switching envelope consist of two parts:square and trailing dark pulses.The shortest pulse width of the dark square pulse is obtained at 40.5μs when the pump power is fixed at 145 mW.The repetition rate of trailing dark pulses can be increased from 27.62 kHz to 50 kHz as the pump power increases from 55 mW to 145 mW.     

High-power near diffraction-limited 1 064-nm Nd:YAG rod laser and second harmonic generation by intracavity-frequency-doubling

We present a near diffraction-limited 1 064-nm Nd:YAG rod laser with output power of 82.3 W(M~2≈1.38). The power fluctuation over two hours is better than±1.1%.Pulsed 1064-nm laser with an average power of 66.6 W and pulse width of 46 ns are achieved when the laser is Q-switched at a repetition rate of 10 kHz.The short pulse duration stems from the short cavity as well as the high-gain laser modules. Using intracavity-frequency-doubling,a 35.0-W near diffraction-limited 532-nm green laser(M~2≈1.32) is achieved with a pulse width of 43 ns.     

A Diode-Stack End-Pumped Electro-Optically Q-Switched Nd:YAG Slab Oscillator--Amplifier System

A laser diode-stack end-pumped electro-optically Q-switched Nd：YAG slab oscillator-amplifier system with neardiffraction-limited output is demonstrated by a stable-unstable hybrid resonator. The average power of 100 W at a repetition rate of lOkHz with a pulse width 14.7ns and average power of 76.3 W at a repetition rate of 5kHz with a pulse width of 10.2ns are measured. At the repetition rate of 10 kHz and at an output power of 89 W, the beam quality factors M^2 in the unstable and stable directions are 1.3 and 1.5, respectively.     

Nonlinear Polarization Rotation-Based Mode-Locked Erbium-Doped Fiber Laser with Three Switchable Operation States

A simple mode-locked erbium-doped fiber laser （EDFL） with three switchable operation states is proposed and demonstrated based on nonlinear polarization rotation. The EDFL generates a stable square pulse at a third harmonic pulse repetition rate of 87kHz as the 1480 nm pump power increases from the threshold of 17.5 m W to 34.3mW. The square pulse duration increases from 105 ns to 245ns as the pump power increases within this region. The pulse operation switches to the second operation state as the pump power is varied from 48.2mW to l16.Tm W. The laser operates at a fundamental repetition rate of 29 kHz with a fixed pulse width of 8.5 μs within the pump power region. At a pump power of ll6.TmW, the average output power is 3.84mW, which corresponds to the pulse energy of 131.5 ng. When the pump power continues to increase, the pulse train experiences unstable oscillation before it reaches the third stable operation state within a pump power region of 138.9 m W to 145.0 m W. Within this region, the EDFL produces a fixed pulse width of 2.8 μs and a harmonic pulse repetition rate of 58 kHz.     

An efficient intracavity-pumped KTP optical parametric oscillator at 1572 nm

We demonstrate an efficient and eye-safe wavelength intracavity optical parametric oscillator (OPO), based on a KTP crystal inside a Q-switched Nd:YVO4 laser end pumped by a fiber-coupled diode laser. In the acousto-optic Q-switched operation with the pulse repetition rate of 10 kHz, a 1572-nm eye-safe laser with the average power of 237 mW at the incident pump power of 5.64 W is obtained. Under the pulse repetition rate of 5 kHz, the signal light with pulse width of 2 ns and peak power of 18.5 kW is achieved. The conversion efficiency of the average power is 4.2% from pump diode to OPO signal output and the signal pulse duration is about 13 times shorter than that of the depleted pump light.     

Diode end-pumped Q-switched high-power intracavity frequency-doubled Nd:GdVO4/KTP green laser

A diode-laser-array end-pumped acousto-optically Q-switched intracavity frequency-doubled Nd:GdVO₄/KTP green laser, formed with a three-mirror folded resonator, has been demonstrated. With 15 W of pump power incident upon the Nd:GdVO₄ crystal, a maximum average green output power of 3.75 W was obtained at 50 kHz of pulse repetition frequency, giving an optical conversion efficiency of 25%, whereas the effective intracavity frequency-doubling efficiency was determined to be 72%. At the incident pump power of 12.8 W, the shortest laser pulse was achieved at a pulse repetition rate of 10 kHz, the resulting pulse width, single pulse energy, and peak power were measured to be 35 ns, 108 μJ, and 3.1 kW, respectively. Received: 18 May 2000 / Published online: 20 September 2000     

Efficient, kHz repetition rate, gain-switched Cr:forsterite laser

We have developed a gain-switched room-temperature Cr:forsterite laser operating at repetition rates of between 1 and 34 kHz, and pumped by a continuous wave, Q-switched Nd:YAG laser. With optimised output coupling, an output pulse energy of 52 μJ was measured at 1.5 kHz repetition rate, corresponding to 11% efficiency and 13% slope efficiency. Threshold pulse energy was 53 μJ. Output power of 370 mW was obtained at 10 kHz repetition rate and 4.4 W pump power. Water cooling was not required for repetition rates up to 10 kHz. In a tunable, folded resonator, the Cr:forsterite wavelength tuned between 1173 and 1338 nm. This laser operated with maximum pulse energy of 34 μJ, efficiency of 13%, and power of 307 mW. The laser output was close to diffraction-limited with M² of 1.2. Received: 6 January 1999 / Published online: 29 July 1999     

532 nm laser based on V-type doubly resonant intra-cavity frequency-doubling

LD side-pumped dual interconnected V-type quasi-continuous wave green laser has been demonstrated. The two Nd:YAG modules were placed in a plane-concave V-type resonator and a plane-concave straight cavity formed two stable operation beam of the 1064-nm fundamental frequency laser. Through acousto-optic Q-switched and frequency doubling crystal, two double-frequency laser beams arrived at the folded flat mirror, which were unidirectional output by the folded flat mirror at the end. As the pumped current was 50 A, the 532 nm green laser maximum average output power of 206 W at a repetition of 22.4 kHz was achieved with a pulse width of 201 ns and the largest single pulse energy of 9.2 mJ, corresponding to a peak power of 45.8 kW and a double frequency efficiency of 60.2%.     

Passive Q-switching of short-length Tm-doped silica fiber lasers by polycrystalline Cr:ZnSe microchips

We demonstrate passive Q-switching of short-length double-clad Tm³⁺-doped silica fiber lasers near 2 μm pumped by a laser diode array (LDA) at 790 nm. Polycrystalline Cr²⁺:ZnSe microchips with thickness from 0.3 to 1 mm are adopted as the Q-switching elements. Pulse duration of 120 ns, pulse energy over 14 μJ and repetition rate of 53 kHz are obtained from a 5-cm long fiber laser. As high as 530 kHz repetition rate is achieved from a 50-cm long fiber laser at ∼10-W pump power. The performance of the Q-switched fiber lasers as a function of fiber length is also analyzed.     

High-repetition-rate eye-safe optical parametric oscillator intracavity pumped by a diode-pumped Q-switched Nd:YVO<Subscript>4</Subscript> laser

A high-repetition-rate eye-safe optical parametric oscillator (OPO), using a non-critically phase-matched KTP crystal intracavity pumped by an acousto-optically (AO) Q-switchedNd:YVO₄ laser, is experimentally demonstrated. It is found that the average OPO signal power at 1573 nm can be efficiently increased by increasing the pulse repetition rate. Moreover, the intracavity OPO process effectively shortens the pulse width so that it is in the range 5∼8 ns for pulse repetition rates of 10 to 80 kHz. As a result of the relatively short pulse, the peak power at 1573 nm is higher than 2 kW at a pulse repetition rate of 80 kHz. Received: 10 July 2002 / Published online: 26 February 2003 RID="*" ID="*"Corresponding author. Fax: +886-35/729-134, E-mail: yfchen@cc.nctu.edu.tw     

A diode-pumped linear intracavity frequency doubled Nd:YAG rod laser with 40 ns pulse width and 73 W green output power

We analyzed a linear cavity for intracavity frequency doubling of a diode-pumped acousto-optic Q-switched Nd:YAG rod laser, and showed that a green laser beam with a short pulse width can be generated efficiently. A green laser output power of 73 W corresponding to the 83.9% of maximum IR output power was obtained with a 40 ns pulse width at a 10 kHz repetition rate. A green output power of 40 W with a 35 ns pulse width was measured at a 5 kHz repetition rate. Minimum laser pulse width of approximately 32 ns was obtained around 1 kHz repetition rate for both green and IR laser beams.     

Highly efficient synchronous amplification of a picosecond dye laser at a kHz repetition rate

A short pulse, high energy, high repetition rate dye amplifier with superior conversion efficiency is reported. The dye amplifier is composed of three single-pass dye cells, longitudinally pumped by a frequency doubled 1 kHz Nd: YLF regenerative amplifier. The dye amplifier yields 3.5 ps, 150 J pulses at 595 nm, corresponding to a 12% conversion efficiency. The ASE is 1% or less, and the transverse mode quality is near-Gaussian.In absentia from the Department of Chemistry, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA     

Compact efficient diode-pumped Nd:YVO4 Q-switched blue laser with intracavity frequency tripling

We demonstrate a compact efficient diode-pumped acousto-optically Q-switched intracavity-frequency-tripled Nd:YVO₄ blue laser. The optimum polarization state is experimentally investigated to optimize the output performance. Greater than 280 mW of 447-nm average power at a repetition rate of 25 kHz was generated with a 15-W diode pump power. At 25 kHz, the pulse width is shorter than 15 ns and the peak power is higher than 800 W.