Highly efficient in-band pumped Er:YAG laser with 60 W of output at 1645 nm

A high-power Er:YAG laser that is in-band pumped by a high-power cladding-pumped erbium-ytterbium codoped fiber laser operating at 1532 nm is reported. The Er:YAG laser produced 60.3 W of continuous-wave output at 1645.3 nm in a beam with M2 approximately equal to 3 for 82 W of incident pump power and 20 W of TEM00 output with M2 < 1.2 for 32.4 W of incident pump power. The slope efficiency with respect to incident pump power at pump powers of >20 W was approximately 81%. In the Q-switched mode of operation, a slightly modified resonator configuration incorporating an electro-optic Q switch produced pulses of approximately 4 mJ energy and approximately 100 ns (FWHM) duration, corresponding to a peak power of approximately 42 kW at a repetition rate of 1 kHz for an incident pump power of 16.8 W. The prospects for further improvement in continuous-wave and Q-switched performance are discussed.     

In-band pumped highly efficient Ho:YAG ceramic laser with 21 W output power at 2097 nm

We report on the high-power and high-efficiency operation of a polycrystalline Ho:YAG ceramic laser in-band pumped by a Tm fiber laser at ~1907 nm. Lasing characteristics of a 1.5 at.% and a 2.0 at.% Ho3?-doped YAG ceramic were investigated and compared. Using an output coupler of 6% transmission, over 21.4 W of cw output power at 2097 nm has been generated with the 1.5 at.% doped Ho:YAG ceramic under 35 W of incident pump power, corresponding to an average slope efficiency with respect to the incident pump power of 63.6% and an optical-to-optical conversion efficiency of 61.1%.     

The output characteristics of double-end-pumped Ho:LuAG laser at room temperature

Continuous-wave (CW) and Q-switched operation of a room-temperature Ho:LuAG laser was resonantly double-end-pumped by a diode-pumped Tm:YLF laser at 1.91 μm. The CW Ho: LuAG laser generated 24.5 W of linearly output at 2094.4 nm with beam quality factor of M ² = 1.11 ± 0.02 for an absorbed pump power of 44.0 W, corresponding to optical-to-optical conversion efficiency of 55.7% and slope efficiency of 60.5%. Under Q-switched operation, a maximum output power of 24.1 W with a slope efficiency of 58.1% at 12 kHz was obtained. Also, the minimum pulse width of 32 ns was achieved, corresponding to the peak power was 37.7 kW.     

Room temperature single-frequency output at 2118 nm from a diode-pumped Tm,Ho:YAP laser

A diode end-pumped single-frequency Tm, Ho:YAP laser at room temperature was reported. We demonstrated a single-frequency Tm, Ho:YAP laser at 2118.09 nm wavelength with output power up to 57 mW using two Fabry-Perot intracavity etalons. The optical conversion efficiency is 2.0% and the slope efficiency is 12.7%. The measured full width at half maximum linewidth was <7.5 pm limited by the resolution of the scanning Fabry-Perot etalon used to make the measurement. The wavelength was demonstrated to be stable to about 2 pm over 40 s time periods limited by the temperature stability of the laser. The single-longitudinal-mode (SLM) laser can be used as a seed laser for coherent wind measurements and differential absorption LIDAR systems.     

In-band pumped Ho:YAP laser by Tm-Doped fiber laser at 1936 and 1948 nm,respectively

We present for the first time a highly efficient Ho:YAP laser at 2117.9 nm, which is double-end inband pumped by two all-fiber Tm-doped fiber lasers at 1936 and 1948 nm. Using a single 50 mm long Ho:YAP rod in a simple L-shaped resonator geometry, a maximum laser output power of 10.1 W and a slope efficiency of 43.6% with respect to the incident pump power are acquired. The Ho:YAP crystals work under room temperature 24°C, and without any active thermal management. This experimental results verify the Ho:YAP crystals can be pumped by the versatile laser sources in the 1.9 μm regions.     

In-band pumped Er:YAG ceramic laser with 11 W of output power at 1645 nm

We report on a high power polycrystalline Er:YAG ceramic laser in-band pumped by a cladding-pumped Er, Yb fiber laser wavelength locked at 1532 nm with a volume Bragg grating. Using 1.0 at % Er³⁺-doped ceramic as the gain medium and an output coupler of 10% transmission, the laser had a threshold pump power of ∼1.5 W and generated 11 W of continuous-wave output at 1645 nm for 23.3 W of incident pump power at 1532 nm, corresponding to a slope efficiency with respect to incident pump power of 51%.     

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.     

Holmium-doped fluoride fiber laser at 2950 nm pumped at 1175 nm

We report a single-mode, highly stable, continuous-wave Ho³⁺: ZBLAN fiber laser. The system was pumped by a 1175-nm fiber Raman laser and emitted at ～2950 nm. The optical-to-optical conversion efficiency was 43% that is the highest reported in the literature. Characterizations revealed a quasigaussian intensity profile with a power stability of less than 1%. This high stability relies on the single-wavelength emission of the system because the system does not require simultaneous oscillation at 2100 nm. Coincidence between the emission wavelength and the absorption peak of water makes the system suitable to replace a high-power (～9.34-W) Er³⁺: ZBLAN fiber laser for cutting materials with high moisture content.     

Highly efficient Tm:YAG ceramic laser resonantly pumped at 1617 nm

We report on a highly efficient polycrystalline Tm:YAG ceramic laser in-band pumped by an Er:YAG laser at 1617 nm. Lasing characteristics of 4.0 and 6.0 at.%Tm(3+)-doped YAG ceramics were investigated and compared. With an output coupler of 10% transmission, a maximum output power of 7.3 W was obtained at 2015 nm under 12.8 W of incident pump power, corresponding to a slope efficiency with respect to incident pump power of 62.3%.     

High-pulse-energy actively Q-switched Tm3+-doped silica 2 microm fiber laser pumped at 792 nm

A diode-pumped Q-switched Tm(3+)-doped double-clad silica fiber laser is reported providing average powers of up to 30 W at pulse widths of only 41 ns and repetition rates in the range of 10-125 kHz. Up to 270 microJ pulse energy was produced. Amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) buildup limits the maximum peak power, and the pump power and average output power at the point of ASE induced clamping were found to depend linearly on the repetition rate.     

Ho:YAG laser intracavity pumped by a diode-pumped Tm:YLF laser

We report a compact Ho:YAG laser that is intracavity pumped by a diode-pumped Tm:YLF laser. Both lasers exhibit pulse mode behavior. Operating both crystals at room temperature (25 degrees C), we obtained 1.6 W of average output at 2.09 microm from the Ho:YAG laser for 15.4 W of diode power incident upon the Tm:YLF rod and a slope efficiency of 21%.     

Efficient Ho:YAP laser dual-end-pumped by Tm fiber laser

We report the continuous wave and acousto-optically Q-switched operation of an in-band dual-end-pumped Ho:YAP laser at room temperature. A continuous wave output power of 11.0W at 2118 nm was obtained at an absorbed pump power of 19.8 W, corresponding to a slope efficiency of 62.1%. For the Q-switched mode, a maximum pulse energy of about 1.07 mJ and a minimum pulse width of 29 ns at a repetition rate of 10 kHz were achieved, resulting in a peak power of 36.9 kW.     

A ring ZnGeP2 optical parametric oscillator pumped by a Ho:LuAG laser

We have demonstrated that we believe to be the first ring ZnGeP₂ (ZGP) optical parametric oscillator (OPO) pumped by a pulsed Ho:LuAG laser. The maximum output power of the ring ZGP OPO laser was 5.51 W at 13.1 W incident Ho pump power, corresponding to a slope efficiency of 59.0 %. The ZGP OPO laser produced 14 ns mid-infrared pulses in the 3.72–4.01 and 4.37–4.75 μm spectral regions simultaneously. In addition, the continuous wave Ho:LuAG laser generated 26.5 W of linearly output at 2,094.4 nm at the absorbed Tm pump power of 49.9 W.     

Tm:Ho co-doped single mode optical fibre laser pumped by a 1600 nm Er fibre laser

An all-fibre Tm:Ho laser system is reported, using a 1600 nm Er fibre pump laser and 0.3 m length of the fibre through a two-stage optimization of both the pump source and laser configuration to achieve a low threshold operation. As a result a low threshold power of 33 mW and a slope efficiency of 0.6% have been achieved, in laser operation at a wavelength of 1870 nm and a cross-comparison with 785 nm laser diode pumping has been made.     

Diode-pumped Q-switched Tm:LuAG ring laser operation at room temperature

2-μm lasers with high pulse energy and long pulse width of hundreds of nanoseconds are needed urgently in the accurate wind velocity lidar systems. This paper presented the acoustic-optical Q-switched Tm:LuAG laser performance in a pulsed-laser-diode end-pumping figure-eight ring resonator structure. Pulse energy and pulse width are investigated with the increasing of the incident pump energy at different repetition rate operation. Maximum energy of 3.3 mJ with the pulse width of 199 ns and 1.8 mJ with pulse width of 293 ns are obtained at the repetition rate of 20 and 50 Hz, respectively. Under Q-switched operation, the peak output wavelength is 2.022 μm at all time, and the beam quality factors are lower than 2 times diffraction-limited measured by a knife-edge traveling method.     

All-solid-state dual end pumped YVO4:Nd/LBO blue laser with 21.8 W output power at 457 nm

It is reported the efficient compact deep-blue laser at 457 nm generation by intracavity frequency doubling of a continuous wave (CW) laser operation of a diode-pumped YVO₄:Nd laser on the ⁴ F _3/2 → ⁴ I _9/2 transition at 914 nm. An LBO crystal, cut for critical type I phase matching at room temperature is used for second harmonic generation (SHG) of the laser. With dual end pump configurations at total incident pump power of 60 W, as high as 21.8 W of CW output power at 457 nm is achieved with 20-mm-long LBO. The optical-to-optical conversion efficiency is up to 36.3%, and the power stability in 8 h is better than 2.36%.     

2-W Ho:YAG laser intracavity pumped by a diode-pumped Tm:YAG laser

Efficient room-temperature operation of a Ho:YAG laser, intracavity pumped by a diode-bar-pumped Tm:YAG laser, is reported. At rod mount temperatures of 10 degrees C, for both the Tm:YAG and the Ho:YAG rods, we obtained 2.1 W of output at 2.097mum from the Ho:YAG laser for 9.2 W of diode power incident upon the Tm:YAG rod.     

The study of a Tm:YLF laser pumped by a Raman shifted Erbium fiber laser at 1678 nm

A Tm:YLF laser pumped by a Raman shifted Er-fiber laser at 1.678 μm was studied at two Tm³⁺ ion concentrations equal to 1.5% and 5%. At output powers up to 460 mW the measured lasing efficiency at a wavelength of ~ 1.93 μm was as high as ~ 50%. The lasing performance was compared with that obtained under pumping by a 792-nm laser diode. The temporal structure of the laser pulse was recorded and the beam propagation factor M² was measured for all pumping conditions.     

Q-switch operation of a c-cut 2132-nm Tm, Ho:YAP laser pumped by a laser diode of 794.3 nm

Q-switch operation of a c-cut Tm (5 at %), Ho (0.3 at %):YAP laser at 2132 nm wavelength were reported in this paper. In the temperature of 77 K, the Tm, Ho:YAP crystal was double end-pumped by a 21.4-W fiber-coupled laser diode (LD) at the center wavelength of 794.3 nm. A 5.29-W Q-switch output power was acquired at pulse repetition frequency (PRF) of 10 kHz, corresponding to an optical-optical conversion efficiency of 24.7% and a slope efficiency of 28.1%. The energy per pulse of 3.57 mJ in 38 ns was achieved at 1.25 kHz with the peak power of 93.9 kW.