Experimental investigation of pulse diodes side-pumped 2 μm Tm:YAG lasers

The free running and Q-switched operation of 2 μm Tm:YAG lasers side-pumped by pulse laser diodes were reported. In the free running mode the maximum output energies were 102.5 mJ at 1 Hz and 94.6 mJ at 10 Hz, respectively. With an acousto-optic modulator in the laser resonator, 21 mJ 2 μm Q-switched pulse was obtained, with a pulse width of about 330 ns. The dependences of the output energy and the efficiency on the laser resonator parameters were investigated.     

Effects of co-dopant concentrations and excitation conditions on the 2 μm fluorescence dynamics in Tm,Ho:YLF crystals

Results of spectroscopic studies carried out on Tm, Ho:YLF crystals are reported. In particular, we have investigated the effects of the co-dopant concentrations on the time evolution of the fluorescence at 2 m emitted in response to short-pulse laser excitation at 792 nm. The fluorescence intensity profiles are analyzed in terms of their temporal and amplitude characteristics over a wide range of excitation conditions.     

High-efficiency continuous-wave diode-pumped Tm:Ho:LuAG laser at 2.1 μm

Continuous Wave (CW) laser action has been observed from a Ho:Tm:LuAG rod at 2.1 m pumped by a diode laser at 785 nm in the temperature range of 77–200 K. The maximum power observed was 1.38 W at an incident power of 4 W at a crystal temperature of 77 K. The optical-to-optical conversion efficiency was observed to be 35.6% at a threshold power of 0.2 W with a 95% output coupling mirror.     

Frequency of lamb-dip-stabilized 1.52 μm He-Ne lasers

A ³He-²⁰Ne and a ³He-²²Ne 1.52 m laser were frequency stabilized to the Lamb-dip of their respective gain curve and provided a resettability of 2 MHz. Using these lasers, absolute frequencies for the ²⁰Ne and ²²Ne laser transitions were measured by interferometric frequency comparison with an I₂-stabilized He-Ne laser at 0.633 m. A least-square analysis which accounts for the linear frequency dependence of the laser gas pressure yielded two parameters which can reproduce the measured frequencies within an accuracy of ±1.0·10^–8 at 1.52 m.     

Tm：Ho：YLF Amplifiers at 2.049 μm with a Tm：Ho：GdVO4 Oscillator

We report cw diode-pumped cryogenic Tm:Ho:YLF amplifiers at 2.049μm with a Tm:Ho:GdVO4 oscillator. Not only the single- and double-pass, but also the single- and double-end pump amplifiers with a 10-mm-length medium are compared. A measured maximum small-gain coetfficient of 1.3 cm^-1 is achieved for the double-pass and double-end pump amplifier. The maximum extracted power of 8.5 W, the gain of 3.2 and extracted etfficiency of 32% have been obtained with an input signal power of 3.9 W. The difference of the hosts in the oscillator and amplifier has little influence on the characteristic of the amplifier output. Additionally, the extracted etfficiency of the quasi-continuous-wave amplifier with a repetition rate of 10kHz is the same as the cw one.     

Highly efficient 2 μm Tm:YAG ceramic laser

We have experimentally demonstrated a highly efficient diode-pumped Tm:YAG ceramic laser operating at 2 μm wavelength. The maximum output power of 6.05 W was realized with a slope efficiency as high as 65%. As far as we know, it is the highest slope efficiency reported for Tm:YAG ceramic laser. The wavelength tuning experiment of Tm:YAG ceramic laser was carried out and the results suggest that Tm:YAG ceramic laser could operate simultaneously at multiple wavelengths in a wide range of 1884-2017 nm.     

Cr:Tm:Ho:YAG (2.1 μm) and Nd:YAG (1.444 μm) pulsed-laser lithotripsy of bile duct stones

The Nd:YAG (1.444 m) and Cr:Tm:Ho:YAG (2.1 m) free-running laser systems of the output energy of 300 mJ per pulse and repetition rate 1 Hz have been developed and used for bile duct stones fragmentation study in vitro. A total of 67 human bile duct stones of known sizes, collected from surgical sources were used in the experiments. Insensitivity of the stones fragmentation to the type of the laser used, and insensitivity of the fragmentation efficiency to the type of stone, was observed. No pathological changes of the tissue were observed for non-human soft tissue laser irradiation (in vitro) by 1, 2, and 5 pulses of the Cr:Th:Ho:YAG radiation of the fluency of 1.6 J/cm². The lasers are found to be good candidates for laser lithotripsy.     

Graphene oxide for diode-pumped Tm:YLF passively Q-switched laser at 2 μm

A diode-pumped Tm:YLF passively Q-switched laser at 2 μm was first demonstrated by using graphene oxide(GO) as a saturable absorber(SA).In this letter,continuous-wave(CW) laser and pulse laser performances were studied meticulously and systematically.It reasonably showed the dependence of the pulse duration,pulse energy,and pulse repetition rate on the absorbed power.A maximum repetition rate of 38.33 kHz and a single pulse energy of 9.89 μJ were obtained.     

2 μm emission properties in Tm3+/Ho3+ codoped fluorophosphate glasses

New type of fluorophosphate glasses with different Tm³⁺/Ho³⁺ doping concentrations have been prepared. From the measured fluorescence spectra, strong emission near 2 μm is demonstrated in the samples. Based on the absorption spectra, the Judd–Ofelt parameters and radiative properties were calculated and compared with those of other glass hosts. Then for our prepared Tm³⁺/Ho³⁺ codoped fluorophosphate glass, the higher predicted spontaneous transition probability (76.54 s^?1) along with the larger calculated emission cross-section (6.15×10^?21 cm²) gives evidence of intense 2 μm fluorescence. Besides, it is found that the optimum doping concentration is 4 mol% Tm³⁺/1 mol% Ho³⁺ for the strongest 2 μm emission in our prepared samples.     

A 2 μm Single-Longitudinal-Mode Ho:GdVO4 CW Laser

Journal of Russian Laser Research - We demonstrate a single-longitudinal-mode Ho:GdVO4 continuous-wave (CW) laser at 2048.6 nm. We achieved excellent single-longitudinal-mode performance using a...     

Tunable CW Tm,Ho:YLF laser at 2μm

A tunable continuous wave (CW) low temperature operating Tm (6 at.-%),Ho (0.6 at.-%):YLF laser pumped by fiber-coupled diode laser is reported. The maximum output power is 4.16 W at 2073 nm by use of 30% output coupling, the slope efficiency is 33%. A tuning range from 2049 to 2081 nm is achieved with a birefringent filter (BF). The factors that contribute to the output power and tuning range are discussed.     

RTP Q-switched 2 μm Tm,Ho:GdVO<Subscript>4</Subscript> Laser

In this paper, we report the performance of a diode-pumped cryogenic Tm (5 at %), Ho (0.5 at %):GdVO₄ laser with an RTP pockel cell Q-switch at different pulse repetition rate including 300 Hz, 500 Hz, 1 kHz, and 10 kHz. At the pump power of 6.96 W, the maximum output of 1.7 mJ with a pulse width of 28 ns was achieved under 300 Hz repetition rate, corresponding to a peak power of 61 kW. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time that RTP was used as a Q-switch generator in the 2 μm Tm,Ho:GdVO₄ laser.     

Diode-pumped room temperature single longitudinal mode lasing of Tm,Ho:YLF microchip laser at 2050.5 μm

Room-temperature operation of a single longitudinal-mode c-cut Tm(6%), Ho(0.4%):YLF microchip laser is reported. An incident pump power of 713 mW is used to generate the maximum single-frequency output power of 17 mW at 2050.5 nm, which corresponds to the slope efficiency of 10%.     

8.30 μm singly resonant ZnGeP2 optical parametric oscillators pumped by a Tm,Ho:GdVO4 laser

A single resonator 8.30 μm ZnGeP₂ (ZGP) optical parametric oscillators (OPO) was reported in the paper. The OPO was pumped by a 10.2-W Tm,Ho:GdVO₄ laser at 8 kHz in a Q-switch mode, a 170-mW idler was obtained at 8.30 μm, and the output power of the idler and signal wave was 1.0 W, corresponding to an optical-optical conversion efficiency of 10.3% and a slope efficiency of 20.9%. Tm,Ho:GdVO₄ laser was pumped by a 30-W fiber-coupled laser diode (LD) at the center wavelength of 801 nm. The output wavelength of Tm,Ho:GdVO₄ laser was at 2.05 μm, and the energy per pulse of 1.28 mJ in 18 ns was achieved at 8 kHz with the peak power of 71.1 kW.     

Saturable absorbers for passive Q-switching of erbium lasers emitting in the region of 3 μm

The phototropic properties of Fe:ZnSe, Co:ZnSe, and Co:ZnS single crystals have been investigated. It is shown that these crystals can be used to advantage as the saturable absorbers in solid-state erbium lasers emitting in the region of the 3-μm range. The absorption cross sections of the ground states of the Co²⁺ ion in the ZnSe (σ_GSA = 11·10⁻²⁰ cm²) and ZnS (σ_GSA = 5.6·10⁻²⁰ cm²) crystals and of the Fe²⁺ ion in the ZnSe (σ_GSA = 50·10⁻²⁰ cm²) crystal at λ = 2.79 μm were determined experimentally. It has been established that the above-indicated crystals in the excited state absorb light weakly. The use of these crystals as passive Q switches made it possible to realize, for the first time, the regime of Q-switching of a Cr,Er:YSGG laser emitting at a wavelength of 2.79 μm. Single pulses with an energy of 60 mJ and a duration of 170 nsec were obtained in the regime of passive Q-switching. __________ Translated from Zhurnal Prikladnoi Spektroskopii, Vol. 72, No. 6, pp. 747–751, November–December, 2005.     

Room temperature operation of 2-μm microchip Tm,Ho:Lu2SiO5 laser

Room temperature operation of a c-cut microchip Tm,Ho:Lu₂SiO₅ laser end-pumping by a fibercoupled laser-diode is reported. A 4.03 W incident pump power is used to generate a maximum laser output of 98 mW, representing 2.43% optical-to-optical conversion efficiency and a 4.38% slope efficiency corresponding to incident power. In the experiment, the oscillating wavelengths shifting from 2.084 to 2.089 μm has been observed and approximately 10 mW single 2.087 μm wavelength oscillation has been obtained by changing the pump power to 1.43 W and the position of the pump focus.     

Efficient Tm：YAG Ceramic Laser at 2 μm

We demonstrate a high-efficiency continuous-wave Tm： YAG ceramic laser pumped with a Ti：sapphire laser. An output power up to 860mW is obtained under an absorbed pump power of 2.21 W at 785nm, corresponding to a slope efficiency of 42.1% and optical to optical efficiency of 22%. The measured central wavelength is 2012nm.     

High performance complex-coupled 1.55 μm distributed feedback lasers for digital transmission

We report low threshold and high speed 1.55 m complex-coupled distributed feedback (CCDFB) lasers with gain coupling induced by a current blocking grating. Excellent device performance has been demonstrated with a record-low threshold of 5.6 mA, a large modulation bandwidth of 11 GHz and useful high temperature operation up to 95°C.     

2 μm Cr,Tm,Ho:YAG激光热退偏效应的数值模拟及实验研究

理论分析了Cr,Tm,Ho:YAG激光晶体的热退偏效应, 模拟计算了该晶体棒端面退偏度的分布, 并进行了偏光干涉实验验证. 结果表明, 数值模拟和实验研究结果完全一致, 热致退偏效应随抽运能量增大而增强, 退偏度分布呈十字形, 最大退偏度发生在晶体棒端面上与起偏器偏振方向成45°方位处. 以此提出了高能量Cr,Tm,Ho:YAG激光器的热退偏补偿方法, 获得了激光脉冲能量提高24%以上的实验效果.     

High peak power 1.0 μm and tri-wavelength 1.3 μm Nd:ScYSiO_5 crystal lasers

With a Nd:ScYSiO_5 crystal, a high peak power electro-optically Q-switched 1.0 μm laser and tri-wavelength laser operations at the 1.3 μm band are both investigated. With a rubidium titanyle phosphate(RTP) electro-optical switcher and a polarization beam splitter, a high signal-to-noise ratio 1.0 μm laser is obtained, generating a shortest pulse width of 30 ns, a highest pulse energy of 0.765 mJ, and a maximum peak power of 25.5 kW,respectively. The laser mode at the highest laser energy level is the TEM200 mode with the Mvalue in the X and Y directions to be M_x~2= 1.52 and M_y~2= 1.54. A tri-wavelength Nd:ScYSiO_5 crystal laser at 1.3 μm is also investigated. A maximum tri-wavelength output power is 1.03 W under the absorbed pump power of7 W, corresponding to a slope efficiency of 14.8%. The properties of the output wavelength are fully studied under different absorbed pump power.