A high polarization microchip green laser with dual Nd:YVO4 crystal

A high polarization Nd:YVO₄/KTP laser with dual crossed gain crystal is reported. Using two optical axis orthogonal Nd:YVO₄ crystal as gain medium, eliminating the depolarization effect of single Nd:YVO₄ crystal, the high polarization green laser is obtained. With 1.8 W diode laser pump power the output power of TEM₀₀ green laser is 366 mW, the light–light conversion efficiency is up to 20.3%, and the polarization ratio is 110:1. This laser has the advantages of being simple and easily attainable at a low cost, and it is suitable for batch production.     

Operational characteristics of dual gain single cavity Nd:YVO4 laser

Operational characteristics of a dual gain single cavity Nd:YVO₄ laser have been investigated. With semiconductor diode laser pump power of 2 W, 800 mW output was obtained with a slope efficiency of 49%. Further, by changing the relative orientation of the two crystals the polarization characteristics of the output could be varied. In particular by keeping the two Nd:YVO₄ crystals with their c-axes orthogonal to each other and adjusting the gain of the crystals so that both operate at approximately the same power level, completely unpolarized beams could be obtained.     

Radially polarized laser beam from a Nd:YAG laser cavity with a c-cut YVO4 crystal

We demonstrate the generation of a radially polarized beam by simply inserting an undoped c-cut YVO₄ crystal into a Nd:YAG laser cavity. In a hemispherical cavity, the cylindrically symmetric, positive birefringence of the YVO₄ crystal extends the stability limit of the cavity length for an extraordinary ray (radial polarization) compared to an ordinary one (azimuthal polarization). By adjusting the cavity length, a radially polarized beam with an output power up to 1 W was selectively obtained. In addition, a higher-order transverse mode was also generated by arranging the cavity design. The method demonstrated in this paper can be readily applied to laser systems with an isotropic laser medium. PACS 42.60.Da; 42.25.Lc; 42.25.Ja     

Non-Gaussian fundamental laser mode oscillation in end-pumped Nd:YVO4 microchip laser

Far-Field non-Gaussian fundamental transverse modes have been obtained in CW end-pumped Nd:YVO₄ microchip laser for particular cavity lengths. Such profiles appear at threshold and are not distorted when pump power increases but they strongly depend on the pump to mode size ratio. An implemented theoretical model qualitatively reproduces these transverse profiles. It is based on the hypothesis of diffraction effects of the resonant intra-cavity field on a Gaussian-gain profile. Dependence of the pump to mode size ratio on such profiles will be also theoretically explained.     

Self-Q-switched Nd:YVO4 microchip lasers

We have observed giant pulses from cw pumped, monolithic Nd:YVO(4) microchip lasers, several hundred times the cw level, with pulse lengths less than 2 ns, which cannot be accounted for by conventional gain switching. These pulses occur as the second longitudinal mode starts to oscillate and can be described by the inclusion of gain-related effects in the formation of a stable cavity.     

A novel orthogonally linearly polarized Nd:YVO4 laser

<正>We presented a novel orthogonally linearly polarized Nd:YVO₄ laser.Two pieces of a-cut grown-together composite YVO₄/Nd:YVO₄ crystals were placed in the resonant cavity with the c-axis of the two crystals orthogonally.The polarization and power performance of the orthogonally polarized laser were investigated.A 26.2-W orthogonally linearly polarized laser was obtained.The power ratio between the two orthogonally polarized lasers was varied with the pump power caused by the polarized mode coupling.The longitudinal modes competition and the corresponding variable optical beats were also observed from the orthogonally polarized laser.We also adjusted the crystals with their c-axis parallele to each other,and a 40.7-W linearly polarized TEMoo laser was obtained,and the beam quality factors were M_x²=1.37 and M_y² =1.25.     

Tunable single and multiwavelength continuous-wave c-cut Nd:YVO4 laser

We report a discretely tunable, single and multiwavelength continuous-wave diode-end-pumped laser with a c-cut Nd:YVO₄ crystal lasing on the ⁴F_3/2?C⁴I_11/2 intermanifold transitions and an intracavity sub-THz free-spectral-range etalon. Experimental results show that it is tunable in the discrete regions of 1066.5?C1066.8, 1083.1?C1084.6, and 1087.2?C1088.2?nm and operates simultaneously at dual-wavelengths of (1084.6, 1087.4), (1066.5, 1088.0), (1066.8, 1083.3) nm by changing the angle of an intracavity etalon with 0.67 THz free-spectral range. With a proper etalon angle, the laser can also simultaneously oscillate at four wavelengths of 1066.9, 1082.9, 1085.7, and 1088.3?nm with a total output power of 1.2?W at an incident diode pump power of 15?W. Similar performance of the laser at different wavelengths was also achieved by using a 0.88?THz free-spectral-range etalon in the same laser cavity.     

Second-Stokes YVO4/Nd:YVO4/YVO4 self-frequency Raman laser

We demonstrated an efficient second-Stokes Raman laser emission at 1313 nm based on self-frequency stimulated Raman scattering from a diode-end-pumped actively Q-switched YVO(4)/Nd:YVO(4)/YVO(4) laser at 1064 nm for the first time, to the authors' knowledge. A double-end diffusion-bonded Nd:YVO(4) composite crystal was adopted for sufficiently improving the thermal lensing effect in the course of self-frequency stimulated Raman scattering operation. With an incident pump power of 14.6 W and a pulse repetition (PRR) of 40 kHz, a maximum average output power of 2.34 W was obtained, corresponding to an optical-to-optical conversion efficiency of 16%. Pulse width and peak power were 1.2 ns and 49 kW, respectively.     

A compact efficient continuous-wave self-frequency Raman laser with a composite YVO4/Nd:YVO4/YVO4 crystal

We report a low-threshold continuous-wave self-Raman laser with a composite YVO₄/Nd:YVO₄/YVO₄ crystal. The use of the composite crystal can reduce the thermal effects and achieve the low-threshold and high Raman output operation. The Raman threshold is as low as 2.2 W for the 808-nm diode pump. Under the pump of a diode power of 25.5 W, the highest Raman output of 2.8 W is obtained at 1175 nm, corresponding to a slope efficiency of 12% and a diode-to-Stokes optical conversion efficiency of 11%. The power fluctuation is less than 1.1% under the highest Raman output.     

Intensity noise of injected Nd:YVO 4 microchip lasers

The combined effects of the pump noise suppression and injection locking technique on the intensity noise of a diode pumped Nd:YVO₄ microchip laser are theoretically and experimentally investigated. Complete cancellation of the relaxation oscillation peak is experimentally achieved. Very good agreement between experimental results and theoretical predictions of a fully quantum model describing lasers with injected signal is found. Received 10 December 2001 and Received in final form 6 March 2002     

An 110 W Nd:YVO4 slab laser with high beam quality output

In this paper we report on experimental results of an end-pumped Nd:YVO₄ slab laser with a hybrid resonator. 110 W output power with beam propagation factor M² of 1.3 and 1.5 in two orthogonal directions was obtained. After a spatial filter the typical beam propagation factors at 50 W operation were 1.09 and 1.2.     

Low-power 100-ps microchip laser amplified by a two-stage Nd:YVO4 amplifier module

We report the amplification of a low-power 4-mW microchip Nd:YVO₄ laser at 1064?nm, passively Q-switched with a semiconductor saturable absorber mirror (SESAM). An end-pumped two-stage amplifier module with small-signal gain of 56?dB has been designed to boost the power, generating 6?W at 550?kHz with 100-ps pulses and M ²?=?1.2. Second-harmonic generation in critically phase-matched LBO yielded 3?W at 532?nm, with pulse stability comparable to that of the fundamental frequency.     

Frequency-stabilized Nd:YVO4 thin-disk laser

We have developed a Nd:YVO₄ thin-disk laser at 914 nm with single-frequency operation and active frequency stabilization to a low-finesse reference cavity. The spectral density of laser frequency noise is analysed by means of noise measurements at the error point of the frequency control loop. To address the 3¹S₀→3³P₁ magnesium intercombination line at 457 nm, we use an external frequency doubling stage based on periodically poled KTiOPO₄ for the generation of more than 150-mW output power at 457 nm. Optical beat signal measurements at 457 nm with a frequency-stable dye laser show a short-time line width of the thin-disk laser of less than 100 kHz. PACS 42.55.Xi; 42.60.Lh; 42.62.Fi; 42.65.Ky     

Highly efficient cascaded P-doped Raman fiber laser pumped by Nd:YVO4 solid-state laser

A highly efficient cascaded P-doped Raman fiber laser （RFL） pumped by a 1064-nm continuous wave （CW） Nd：YVO4 solid-state laser is reported. 1.15-W CW output power at 1484 nm is obtained while the input pump power is 4 W, corresponding to the power conversion efficiency of 28.8%. The threshold pump power for the second-order Stokes radiation is 1.13 W. The slope efficiency is as high as 42.6%. The experimental results are in good agreement with theoretical ones. Furthermore, the power instability of the P-doped RFL at 1484 nm in an hour is observed to be less than 5%.     

LD端抽运平直腔Nd:YVO4固态激光器的输出功率特性研究

对LD端抽运平直腔Nd:YVO4固态激光器输出功率特性受激光器内在诸因素(热透镜效应、腔长、激活孔径等)的制约关系进行了研究.并用传播圆-变换圆图解分析方法给出了合理的解释,同时,对进一步提高其输出功率特性指出了方向.     

LD连续泵浦Nd:YVO4声光调Q激光器

利用半导体激光器（LD）连续单端泵浦Nd:YVO4晶体,实现了声光调Q输出1 064nm的短脉冲。分析并用实验验证了不同透过率输出耦合镜及不同重复频率条件下,输出调Q脉冲能量、脉冲宽度及平均输出功率的规律。在泵浦功率为20.7W,重复频率为50kHz时,获得了最大平均输出功率为5.72W的脉冲,光 光转换效率为28%,斜效率为32.4%;在重复频率为10kHz时,最大单脉冲能量为0.286mJ,脉宽为22ns,峰值功率为13kW。     

LD-pumped Q-switched Nd:YVO4 self-Raman laser

LD-pumped actively Q-switched Nd:YVO₄ self-Raman laser is presented. The maximum average output power of the self-Raman laser at 1173.6 nm was obtained to be 2.21 W at the incident pump power of 18 W and the pulse repetition frequency (PRF) of 30 kHz, with the corresponding optical conversion efficiency of 12.28%.     

高效率多程折叠Nd:YVO4激光放大器

采用具有近共焦、非稳腔特点的多程折叠光路结构,使激光光束多次通过增益介质,实现了高提取效率的激光放大器.实验中在注入22W种子激光的条件下,以43.9%的提取效率得到了63 W的激光输出,斜效率超过52%,激光放大器的输出光束质量从种子激光的M2X=2.08,M2Y=1.92变为M2X=2.84,M2Y=1.79.     

LD连续泵浦Nd:YVO4声光调Q激光器

 利用半导体激光器（LD）连续单端泵浦Nd:YVO₄晶体，实现了声光调Q输出1 064nm的短脉冲。分析并用实验验证了不同透过率输出耦合镜及不同重复频率条件下，输出调Q脉冲能量、脉冲宽度及平均输出功率的规律。在泵浦功率为20.7W，重复频率为50kHz时，获得了最大平均输出功率为5.72W的脉冲，光 光转换效率为28%，斜效率为32.4%；在重复频率为10kHz时，最大单脉冲能量为0.286mJ，脉宽为22ns，峰值功率为13kW。