Efficient intra-cavity second harmonic generation by a diode-pumped actively Q-switched Nd:YAG laser

A compact and efficient intra-cavity doubled, actively Q-switched diode-pumped Nd:YAG laser has been developed. It generates as much as 1.55 W at 532 nm, with pulses of 400 ns at a repetition rate of 15 kHz, with an overall optical-to-optical efficiency of 15.5%. A beam quality factor M² ≈ 2.35 has been measured at this power level.     

Dynamical behaviour and harmonic generation of a 946-nm pulsed,flashlamp-pumped Nd: YAG laser

The dynamical behaviour of a Q-switched, flashlamp-pumped Nd: YAG laser cooled to 253 K was investigated. The build-up time of photons in the resonator at 946 nm was 20 times longer than for 1064 nm generation in a Q-mode of operation. A type I second- and fourth-harmonic generation was obtained in KDP and BBO nonlinear optical crystals. A reproducible spectral line width of the second-harmonic generation =2.6 GHz within a tuning range of =146 GHz was achieved. A comparison between experimental and theoretical results is presented.     

Diode-pumped 1123-nm Nd:YAG laser

We demonstrated a diode-pumped Nd:YAG laser with a plano-concave resonator. When the pump power is 1.57 W, the output power of 1123-nm laser is 132 mW at the temperature of 20 ℃, and the power change is less than 2% in an hour. A periodically poled LiNbOa (PPLN) was used as outer cavity frequency-doubling crystal and 561-nm laser was observed.     

High-power ultraviolet 278-nm laser from fourth-harmonic generation of an Nd:YAG amplifier in CsB_3O_5 crystal

We report on the experimental investigation and theoretical analysis of a nanosecond pulse high power ultraviolet(UV) 278 nm laser by fourth-harmonic generation(FHG) of a 1112-nm Nd:YAG amplifier in LiB_3O_5(LBO) and CsB_3O_5(CBO) crystals. The UV laser delivers a maximum average power of 10.3 W at 278 nm with peak power of 36.8 k W under input pump power of 41 W at 556 nm. This is, to the best of our knowledge, the highest output power at the specific UV wavelength of 278 nm. We also performed the theoretical investigation on the FHG with a model in the Gaussian approximation of both spatial and temporal profiles, especially accounting for the two-photon absorption effect in CBO crystal for the first time. The average output power, pulse width, and beam spatial distribution of the UV laser were simulated. The theoretical calculations are in close agreement with the experimental results.     

589-nm yellow laser generation by intra-cavity sum-frequency mixing in a T-shaped Nd:YAG laser cavity

To obtain high power 589-nm yellow laser, a T-shaped thermal-insensitive cavity is designed. The optimal power ratio of 1064- and 1319-nm beams is considered and the fundamental spot size distribution from the output mirror to the two laser rods are calculated and simulated, respectively. As a result, a 589-nm yellow laser with the average output power of 5.7 W is obtained in the experiment when the total pumping power is 695 W. The optical-to-optical conversion efficiency from the fundamental waves to the sum frequency generation is about 15.2% and the pulse width is 150 ns at the repetition rate of 18 kHz. The instability of the yellow laser is also measured, which is less than 2% within 3 h. The beam quality factors are Mx^2 = 4.96 and My^2 = 5.08.     

High efficiency diode laser side-pumped Nd:YAG rod laser

High efficiency laser performance of 2 mm diameter and 20 mm long Nd:YAG crystal rod transversely pumped by laser diode array is presented. Using the directly side-coupled geometry enclosed by cylindrical pump cavity plated with gold, we obtained long pulse energy of 4.6 mJ corresponding to optical-to-optical slope efficiency of 37%. The complete solid-state Nd:YAG laser is described to be simple, compact and highly efficient. Q-switching of the laser is also reported.     

A linearly polarized continuous-wave 1357-nm Nd:YAG laser

We demonstrated a linearly polarized continuous-wave Nd:YAG laser operating at a 1357-nm single-wavelength, by a 808-nm diode as an end-pump source. We chose a Brewster-angle-cut Nd:YAG laser host crystal, due to its two salient features as follow: linearly polarized laser output and single-wavelength oscillation can be easily obtained. In this paper, a continuous-wave all-solid-state single-wavelength laser operating at 1357 nm is demonstrated with a diode-end-pumped Brewster-cut Nd:YAG laser. The laser had a 1.03-W maximum output power under an incident pump power of 15.0 W, a 12.7% slope efficiency, a 6.9% optical-to-optical conversion efficiency, a 0.14-nm spectral linewidth and a 3% power-output stability within 30 min. PACS 42.55.Rz; 42.55.Xi; 42.70.Hj     

High power CW diode-side-pumped Nd:YAG rod laser

We report on the characterization of a diode-side-pumped Nd:YAG rod laser operating at high CW output power. A four-fold pump configuration is designed and the pump light is directly coupled into the Nd:YAG rod without the help of any cylindrical lenses. The distribution of pump light in the Nd:YAG rod has been calculated by using ray tracing program. The thermal lens effect of the Nd:YAG rod has been experimentally measured. A maximum output power of 800 W at 1064 nm in multimode operation is obtained for a pump power of 2400 W with 33% optical-optical efficiency. At the same time, the maximum beam parameter product of 25 mm·mrad is achieved.     

High-power laser with Nd:YAG single-crystal fiber grown by the micro-pulling-down technique

We present optical characterization and laser results achieved with single-crystal fibers directly grown by the micro-pulling-down technique. We investigate the spectroscopic and optical quality of the fiber, and we present the first laser results. We achieved a cw laser power of 10 W at 1064 nm for an incident pump power of 60 W at 808 nm and 360 kW peak power for 12 ns pulses at 1 kHz in the Q-switched regime. It is, to the best of our knowledge, the highest laser power ever achieved with directly grown single-crystal fibers.     

36-W diode-pumped continuous-wave 1319-nm Nd:YAG ceramic laser

Continuous-wave output at 1319 nm was obtained from a laser-diode-pumped 1% ceramic Nd:YAG laser. As much as 36.3-W output was obtained under pump power of 290 W, with an optical-to-optical conversion efficiency of 12.5%.     

High-power Q-switched Nd:YAG laser mounted in a silicon microbench

A high-power Q-switched Nd:YAG/Cr:YAG laser mounted in a silicon microbench is presented. It reaches an average output power well above 2 W and the pulse width is in the order of 1.4 ns. The use of microstructure silicon carriers provides efficient thermal control, compact integration and alignment of active and passive optical components.     

Study on 660-nm quasi-continuous-wave intracavity frequency-doubled Nd:YAG laser

A quasi-continuous-wave intracavity frequency-doubled Nd:YAG laser which operates at 660 nm is studied.By using a flat-flat laser cavity, 2 Kr-lamps, KTP crystal and an acousto-optically Q-switch, 2-W outputpower at 660 nm is obtained. The relationship between laser cavity length and output power is analyzed.     

High-power ultraviolet 278 nm laser from fourth-harmonic generation of a Nd:YAG laser in CsB3O5

We demonstrate a high-power UV 278 nm laser by fourth-harmonic generation (FHG) of a 1112 nm Nd:YAG laser in a nonlinear optical (NLO) crystal CsB3O5 (CBO) for the first time, to our best knowledge. A 30 W level diode-pumped Q-switched Nd:YAG laser at 1112 nm with beam quality factor M2=1.2 was used as the fundamental light source at a pulse width of 500 ns. With an LiB3O5 crystal, the 1112 nm laser was first frequency-doubled to 556 nm with an average output power of 13.5 W. It was then frequency doubled again in a CBO crystal to obtain the FHG output at 278 nm. The maximum average output power of the 278 nm laser is up to 1.5 W. The results demonstrated that CBO crystal is a promising NLO material for UV high-power lasers below 300 nm.     

LD泵浦Nd:YAG 946 nm/1 064 nm双波长运转及腔内和频

用国产半导体激光二极管(LD)端面泵浦NdYAG晶体, 通过优化激光谐振腔反射膜系,调节1 064 nm谱线的线性损耗以达到与弱谱线946 nm的增益匹配,在室温下实现1 064 nm和946 nm双波长连续运转,并通过I类临界相位匹配LBO晶体腔内和频在国内首次实现500.8 nm青色激光连续输出.当泵浦注入功率为1.4W时和频青色激光最大输出达20 mW,光-光转换效率为1.4%,功率稳定性24 h内优于±3%.     

A simple approach to designation of the intracavity resonator for second harmonic Nd:YAG laser

In this paper, the rate equation models, which have been used for describing the high repetitive Q-switched intracavity doubling of Nd:YAG laser, are represented. According to these models and onthe basis of resonator length as the most important parameter for designation of the laser system, a computational procedure (block diagram), which is applied for determination of the doubling intracavity resonator specifications of the Nd:YAG laser, has been provided. According to the resonator length the beam quality inside the resonator for second harmonic generation of Nd:YAG laser in different output powers has been calculated. The results for several green output powers of the laser are compared with the experimental data, and good agreement is obtained.     

1.15 kW连续波全固态Nd:YAG激光器

研制了五组双线二极管列阵侧面泵浦Nd: YAG棒的高效率、高功率激光头。将一块90° 石英旋光片插入两个这样的激光头中间并置入热近非稳对称平平腔，产生了1157 W高光束质量（M2 ~ 39）1064 nm连续波输出，据我们所知，这是侧面泵浦双棒Nd: YAG激光器产生的最高功率。     

High-power Nd:YAG laser picosecond pulse delivery by a polymer-coated silver hollow-glass waveguide

An oscillator-amplifier high-power Nd:YAG laser system was used for transmission of a single 50-ps-long pulse or a train of pulses through a cyclic olefin polymer-coated silver hollow-glass waveguide. The maximum energy that was transmitted was 150 mJ for the train of pulses and 40 mJ for the single pulse, from which followed a delivered power of 100 GW/cm(2) . The characteristics that were obtained make these waveguides promising for the delivery of high-power laser pulses in medical as well as other applications.     

Efficient generation of coherent blue light at 440 nm by intracavity-frequency-tripling 1319-nm emission from a Nd:YAG laser

A new route for efficiently generating coherent blue light has been explored based on intracavity effective third-harmonic generation in one partly periodically poled KTiOPO4 crystal placed inside the cavity of a diode-pumped Nd:YAG laser. To achieve efficient conversion, we use a dual-temperature oven to separately control the phase-matching conditions for the two second-order nonlinear processes. In addition, a Fabry-Perot cavity at 660 nm is incorporated into the crystal to increase the blue power significantly. When the laser is Q switched to produce long pulses, an average power of 118 mW is generated at 440 nm at a pump power of 10 W.     

High power diode-side-pumped 1 112-nm Nd:YAG laser based on master-oscillator power-amplifier system

We demonstrate a high power high beam quality diode-pumped 1 112-nm Nd：YAG master-oscillator power-amplifier （MOPA） laser system. To increase the extraction efficiency and output power, a four-pass amplifier scheme is employed. Finally, the injected laser output power is amplified from 26 to 64 W with beam quality factor M2=2.85. Furthermore, a theoretical model that takes the temporal overlap inversion number dynamics into account is employed to analyze the performance of the MOPA laser system, and a good agreement with the experimental data is obtained.