Nd:GSAG-pulsed laser operation at 943 nm and crystal growth

Laser activity of neodymium-doped gadolinium scandium aluminum garnet (Nd:GSAG) on the transition with an output wavelength around 943 nm was investigated. The emission cross-section was measured with spectroscopic and amplifier approaches demonstrating the applicability of the Nd:GSAG laser for water vapor detection. A Q-switched laser setup delivered 150 ns pulses with 26 mJ output energy and 9% optical to optical efficiency. The laser was diode pumped with up to 50 Hz repetition rate. In the long pulse mode a pulse energy of 83 mJ with 32% optical efficiency was achieved. The output wavelength was controlled by injection seeding. PACS 42.55.Xi; 42.70.Hj     

Diode-pumped Q-switched Nd:YLF laser at 1313 nm

In this letter, we describe the operation of an end-pumped acousto-optic Q-switched Nd:YLF laser. According to the theoretical analysis and calculation for Nd:YLF crystal, the thermal focal length of σ-polarized laser is positive in plane-parallel resonator, while that of π-polarized laser is negative. Hence laser operation at σ-polarized 1313 nm should be stable in plane-parallel cavity. When absorbed pump power is 12.45 W and the pulse repetition frequency is 10 kHz, 3.1 W output laser at 1313 nm is achieved. As a result, the optical–optical conversion efficiency is 25.4 % and slope efficiency is 31.2 %, respectively.     

High-efficiency direct-pumped Nd:YLF laser operating at 1321 nm

We present a high-efficiency Nd: LiYF₄ (Nd:YLF) laser operating at 1321 nm pumped directly into the emitting level, ⁴F_3/2. The linear polarization of the pump diode laser was maintained by a short fiber. At the absorbed pump power of 7.3 W, as high as 3.6 W of continuous-wave output power at 1321 nm is achieved. The slope efficiency with respect to the absorbed pump power was 0.52. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first demonstration of such a laser system. Comparative results obtained for the pump with a diode laser at 806 nm, into the highly absorbing ⁴F_5/2 level, are given in order to prove the advantages of 880 nm wavelength pumping.     

Diode-pumped passively Q-switched Nd : YAG laser at 1123 nm

A diode-pumped Nd:YAG laser at 1123 nm is passively Q-switched by using a low doping concentration Cr⁴⁺:YAG crystal as a saturable absorber. When pumped by a 1.5-W laser diode, the laser produces pulses of 50-ns duration with a pulse energy of as much as 15 J and a peak power of 300 W at a pulse-repetition rate of 10 kHz. PACS 42.60.Gd; 42.55.Rz; 42.55.Xi     

Diode-side-pumped Nd:GGG laser at 1,105?nm and frequency-doubled laser at 552?nm

A high-power diode-side-pumped 1,105?nm Nd:GGG laser and a laser at 552?nm based on intracavity frequency doubling of 1,105?nm laser are demonstrated for the first time. A 26.8-W 1,105?nm laser continuous wave output was achieved under the incident pump power of 170?W. A LiB₃O₅ crystal is used for second harmonic generation of 1,105?nm laser. When the pump power was 170?W, the average output power at 552?nm of 7.3?W was obtained, corresponding to the optical conversion efficiency of 4.3?%. And the minimum pulse width is 181?ns with the pulse repetition rate of 10?kHz. The M ² factors are measured to be 19.8 and 17.6 in the horizontal and vertical directions, respectively.     

High-efficiency eye-safe intracavity Raman laser at 1531 nm with SrWO4 crystal

A high-efficiency diode-end-pumped Q-switched eye-safe linearly-polarized intracavity Raman laser at 1531 nm is demonstrated, with Nd:YVO₄ as the laser medium and SrWO₄ as the Raman crystal. The highest average power of 1.93 W is achieved, with an incident pump of 15.6 W and a repetition rate of 35 kHz. The narrowest pulse duration of 4.9 ns and the highest peak power of 32.2 kW are obtained at a repetition rate of 5 kHz.     

High-gain Al2O3:Nd3+ channel waveguide amplifiers at 880 nm, 1060 nm, and 1330 nm

Neodymium-doped aluminum oxide films with a range of Nd³⁺ concentrations are deposited on silicon wafers by reactive co-sputtering, and single-mode channel waveguides with various lengths are fabricated by reactive ion etching. Photoluminescence at 880, 1060, and 1330 nm from the Nd³⁺ ions with a lifetime of 325 μs is observed. Internal net gain at 845–945 nm, 1064, and 1330 nm is experimentally and theoretically investigated under continuous-wave excitation at 802 nm. Net optical gain of 6.3 dB/cm at 1064 nm and 1.93 dB/cm at 1330 nm is obtained in a 1.4-cm-long waveguide with a Nd³⁺ concentration of 1.68×10²⁰ cm^?3 when launching 45 mW of pump power. In longer waveguides a maximum gain of 14.4 dB and 5.1 dB is obtained at these wavelengths, respectively. Net optical gain is also observed in the range 865–930 nm and a peak gain of 1.57 dB/cm in a short and 3.0 dB in a 4.1-cm-long waveguide is obtained at 880 nm with a Nd³⁺ concentration of 0.65×10²⁰ cm^?3. By use of a rate-equation model, the gain on these three transitions is calculated, and the macroscopic parameter of energy-transfer upconversion as a function of Nd³⁺ concentration is derived. The high internal net gain indicates that Al₂O₃:Nd³⁺ channel waveguide amplifiers are suitable for providing gain in many integrated optical devices.     

Bulk Nd3+-doped tellurite glass laser at 1.37 μm

We have demonstrated, for the first time to our knowledge, lasing at 1.37 μm in a tellurite-based glass host doped with 0.5 mol.% neodymium: Nd³⁺:(0.8)TeO₂–(0.2)WO₃. The gain-switched laser could be operated with 59 μJ threshold pulse energy as well as 5.5% slope efficiency. As high as 6 μJ-pulses with a duration of 1.74 μs were obtained. The pulse repetition rate was 1 kHz. The emission cross section from the threshold analysis turned out to be 1.57×10^?20 cm² at 1370 nm by taking into account excited-state absorption from ⁴F_3/2 to ⁴G_7/2 energy level. Furthermore, the ratio of excited-state absorption to the emission cross section was found out to be 0.78 by using the slope efficiency value.     

1318.8 nm/1338.2 nm simultaneous dual-wavelength Q-switched Nd:YAG laser

A diode-side-pumped simultaneous dual-wavelength Q-switched Nd:YAG laser around 1.3 μm is demonstrated. With the pumping power of 480 W, a peak power of 43 kW was obtained at the repetition rate of 5 kHz. The maximum average output power is up to 43 W with the slope efficiency of 20.5%, and the pulse duration is 200 ns. This dual-wavelength Q-switched laser with high peak power has a balanceable and stable proportion of dual-wavelength output. PACS 42.55.Xi; 42.60.Gd     

3.1 W laser-diode-end-pumped composite Nd : YVO4 self-Raman laser at 1176 nm

We report a laser-diode-end-pumped acousto-optical Q-switched double-end diffusion-bonded Nd?:?YVO₄ self-Raman laser at 1176 nm. The maximum average output power at the first-Stokes wavelength of 1176 nm was obtained to be 3.1 W at the incident pump power of 25 W and the repetition rate of 90 kHz, with the corresponding optical conversion efficiency of 12.4%. The shortest pulse width, the maximum pulse energy and the highest peak power were measured to be 5 ns, 42 μJ and 7.5 kW, respectively.     

Laser diode-array pumped Nd:YAlO_3 CW laser at 1079.5nm and 1341.4nm

Two key problems,spectral matching and spatial overlap between pumpingbeam and the laser mode in the active material,of diode-laser-arrays(LD)end-pumped solid-state laser have been discussed.Initial experimental results were given for LD end-pumpedTEM_(00) CW Nd:YAlO_3 laser at the wavelength of 1079.5nm and 1341.4nm.The outputpower at 1079.5nm is 24.4mW with 14.5％ slope efficiency,and the output power is 1.2mW at 1341.4nm.     

QCW diode-side-pumped Nd:YAG ceramic laser with 247 W output power at 1123 nm

We demonstrate for the first time a diode-side-pumped quasi-continuous-wave (QCW) operation of a 1123 nm Nd:YAG ceramic laser. The single 1123 nm wavelength is acquired through precise coating. With a pump power of 1000 W, an output power of 247 W is obtained, corresponding to an optical–optical conversion efficiency of 24.7%. At the maximal output power, the pulse repetition rate and pulse width are measured to be 1.1 kHz and 180 μs, respectively. The numerical simulations for wavelength selectivity from 1112, 1116 and 1123 nm are discussed in detail.     

High-peak-power passively Q-switched Nd:YAG laser at 946 nm

We demonstrate a high-peak-power quasi-continuous-wave diode-pumped passive Q-switched Nd:YAG laser at 946 nm. We make a thorough comparison of the output performance between the saturable absorbers of InGaAs quantum wells (QWs) and a Cr⁴⁺:YAG crystal. Experimental results reveal that the saturable absorber of InGaAs QWs is superior to the Cr⁴⁺:YAG crystal because of the low nonsaturable losses and leads to a pulse energy of 330 μJ with a peak power greater than 11 kW.     

Dual-wavelength CW diode-end-pumped a-cut Nd:YVO4 laser at 1064.5 and 1085.5 nm

A simple and compact dual-wavelength continuous wave (CW) laser-diode end-pumped laser operating simultaneously at 1,064.5 and 1,085.5 nm in a single a-cut Nd:YVO₄ has been demonstrated. We have used two Nd:YVO₄ crystals with different Nd⁺³ concentrations and lengths; 0.1 %-14 mm and 0.25 %-12 mm. The maximum total output power of 5 and 6.18 W, including 1,064.5 and 1,085.5 nm, is achieved at the incident pump power of 22 and 18 W, with a slope efficiency 23.3 and 32.9 %, respectively, for the crystals of 0.1 %-14 mm and 0.25 %-12 mm. The calculations show both wavelengths lasing at 1,064.5 and 1,085.5 nm can possess the same threshold when reflectivity of the output coupler at 1,064.5 nm is less than 87.5 % and, at this condition, the reflectivity of the output coupler at 1,085.5 nm increases nearly linearly with that of 1,064.5 nm.     

Efficient Cr3+ sensitized Nd3+: GdScGa-garnet laser at 1.06 μm

Room-temperature cw lasing at 1.061 m has been obtained in Cr,Nd: GdScGa-garnet. Threshold powers as low as 7 mW and slope efficiencies up to 41% have been measured. Cross pumping of Nd³⁺ via Cr³⁺ is nearly as efficient as direct pumping. Time-resolved measurements of the transfer rate yield a transfer efficiency of 0.86 and an average transfer time of 17 s. An improvement in pulsed broad band pumping can also be expected.