High-beam-quality, 5.1 J, 108 Hz diode-pumped Nd:YAG rod oscillator-amplifier laser system

A high efficiency, high beam quality diode-pumped Nd:YAG master oscillator power-amplifier (MOPA) laser with six amplifier stages is demonstrated. The oscillator with two-rod birefringence compensation was designed as a thermally determined near hemispherical resonator, which presents a pulse energy of 223 mJ with a beam quality value of M² = 1.29 at a repetition rate of 108 Hz. The MOPA system delivers a pulse energy of 5.1 J with a pulse width of 230 μs, a M² factor of 3.6 and an optical-to-optical efficiency of 38.5%. To the best of our knowledge, this is the highest pulse energy for a diode-pumped Nd:YAG rod laser operation with a high beam quality and a pulse width of hundreds of microseconds at a repetition rate of over 100 Hz.     

219.3 W CW diode-side-pumped 1123 nm Nd:YAG laser

We demonstrate a high power continuous wave (CW) diode-side-pumped Nd:YAG laser operating at 1123 nm with a plano-plano configuration. By means of precise coating, a single 1123 nm wavelength is achieved. Under the pump power of 1080 W, an output power of 219.3 W is obtained, which corresponds to an optical-optical conversion efficiency of 20.3%. To the best of our knowledge, this is the highest output power for CW 1123 nm laser based on Nd:YAG crystal.     

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。     

124 W diode-side-pumped Nd:YAG laser in dynamic fundamental mode

A high power dynamic fundamental mode Nd:YAG laser is experimentally demonstrated with a stagger-pumped laser module and a V-shaped resonator. The rod is pumped symmetrically by staggered bar modules. And dynamic fundamental mode is achieved under different pump levels. The maximal continuous wave (CW) output of 124 W (M²=1.4) is achieved with a dual rod. Average output of 112 W, pulse width of 120 ns, pulse energy of 11.2 mJ and peak power of 93 kW are obtained in Q-switched operation of 10 kHz.     

Nd:YAG调Q激光器双波长振荡机理分析

根据速率方程,研究了二镜腔Nd:YAG双波长调Q激光的振荡机理.通过分析不同透过率下的竞争过程,研究了双波长激光振荡的特点.研究结果表明,在调Q过程中1319nm激光的调Q脉冲起振时间滞后于1064nm激光,并且其最终调Q脉冲来自调Q之后的第一个弛豫振荡尖峰,是该弛豫振荡抑制掉其他弛豫振荡后的结果.通过振荡机理分析,得到了双波长脉冲输出能量相当的透过率条件. 关键词： 双波长 调Q激光 速率方程 弛豫振荡     

二极管泵浦双掺杂YAG微片自调Q激光器

 利用激光二极管泵浦双掺杂YAG微片晶体，在连续泵浦时获得了重复频率为2.78kHz，脉冲宽度为6ns的自调Q激光输出。并通过预泵浦加脉冲调制电流的方法，实现可控重复率的自调Q脉冲输出。与外腔式自调Q微片激光器相比，这种一体化微片激光器具有更高的转换效率、更窄的输出脉冲宽度和更高的重复频率，同时结构更为简单紧凑，易于调整。     

High power diode-pumped passively Q-switched and mode-locking Nd:GdVO4 laser at 912 nm

A high power diode-end-pumped passively Q-switched and mode-locking (QML) Nd:GdVO₄ laser at 912 nm was demonstrated for the first time, to the best of our knowledge. A Z-type laser cavity with Cr⁴⁺:YAG crystals as the intracavity saturable absorber were employed in the experiments. Influence of the initial transmission (T_U) of the saturable absorber on the QML laser performance was investigated. Using the T_U = 95% Cr⁴⁺:YAG, as much as an average output power of 2.0 W pulsed 912 nm laser was produced at an absorbed pump power of 25.0 W, then the repetition rates of the Q-switched envelope and the mode-locking pulse were ~ 224 kHz and ~ 160 MHz, respectively. Whereas the maximum output power was reduced to 1.3 W using the T_U = 90% Cr⁴⁺:YAG, we obtained a 100% modulation depth for the mode-locking pulses inside the Q-switched envelope.     

Preliminary studies of material surface cleaning with a multi-pulse passively Q-switched Nd:YAG laser

A multi-pulse Q-switched (MPQ) Nd:YAG laser system for surface material cleaning has been developed. Trains of pulses having total output energy of as much as 1.05 J, 10–30 pulses/train, 20–70 ns individual pulse-width, and about 100 μs whole duration were generated. Ablation threshold fluence and ablation rate for limestone substrate have been measured and compared with the theoretical calculations. Safe surface cleaning of limestone samples was demonstrated thanks to the high gap between the ablation threshold fluence of the substrate and black crust. Tests of surface cleaning for samples of stone, ceramics, and metal were performed.     

Compact and high-energy diode-side-pumped Q-switched Nd:YAG slab laser system for space application

We develop a compact and high-energy Nd：YAG slab laser system consisting of an oscillator and an amplifier for space applications. The oscillator is a diode-side-pumped electro-optically Q-switched slab laser with a cross-Porro resonator. The KD＊P Pockels cell with a low driving voltage of 950 V is used to polarization output coupling. The amplifier is a Nd：YAG zigzag slab pumped at bounces. The maximum output pulse energy of 341 m3 with 13 ns pulse duration is obtained from the system at the repetition rate of 20 Hz and the beam quality factors are M2=3.1 and M2=3.5. The beam pointing stabilities of the laser system are 3.05μrad in the X-direction and 3.99 grad in the Y-direction, respectively.     

Intracavity frequency doubling of an active Q-switched Nd:YAG laser with 2.25 W output power at 473 nm

An active Q-switched diode-end-pumped Nd:YAG laser is reported with 2.9 W output power on the ⁴F_3/2 → ⁴I_9/2 transitions at a pump power of 24 W. With intracavity frequency doubling using a 20-mm-long LBO, a maximum blue output power of 2.25 W is achieved at a repetition rate of 23 kHz. The conversion efficiency from the corresponding Q-switched fundamental output to blue output is 96%. The peak power of the Q-switched blue pulse is up to 610 W with 160 ns pulse width. The fluctuation of the blue output power is less than 4.0% at the maximum output power.     

High repetition rate passively Q-switched diode-pumped Nd:YVO4 laser

We demonstrated an efficient and compact, diode-pumped passively Q-switched Nd:YVO₄ laser operation at 1.064 μm wavelength with high repetition rate, using Cr⁴⁺:YAG as saturable absorber, formed with a simple flat–flat resonator. The maximum CW output power of 4.05 W was obtained at the incident pump power of 8 W. For Q-switched operation, the maximum average output power was measured to be 1.4 W with the corresponding repetition rate of 200 kHz, the pulse width of 60 ns when the initial transmission of Cr⁴⁺:YAG crystal was 85%. The shortest pulse width of 12 ns, the largest pulse energy of 36 μJ and the highest peak power of 3 kW were obtained when the Cr⁴⁺:YAG crystal with an initial transmission of 60% was used.     

Simultaneous dual-wavelength Q-switched Nd:YAG laser operating at 1.06 μm and 946 nm

Considering the reabsorption loss of the quasi-three level system and the unsaturable loss of the saturable absorber, we obtained the operating condition of a diode-pumped simultaneous dual-wavelength Q-switched Nd:YAG laser operating at 1.06 μm and 946 nm. The dual-wavelength pulsed laser was realized successfully through adaptive coating design of the cavity mirrors. As much as 1.6 W total average output power of the dual-wavelength at 1.06 μm and 946 nm was achieved at the incident pump power of 14.2 W with an optical conversion efficiency of 11.3%.     

Pulse compression in AO Q-switched diode-pumped Nd:GdVO4 laser with Cr4+:YAG saturable absorber

By simultaneously using both an acoustic-optic (AO) modulator and a Cr⁴⁺:YAG saturable absorber in the cavity, for the first time, a diode-pumped doubly Q-switched Nd:GdVO₄ laser has been realized. The pulse duration is obviously compressed in contrast to the actively acoustic-optic Q-switched laser. By considering the Gaussian transversal distribution of the intracavity photon density and the longitudinal distribution of the photon density along the cavity axis as well as the influence of turnoff time of the acoustic-optic (AO) Q-switch, we provide the coupled rate equations for a diode-pumped doubly Q-switched Nd:GdVO₄ laser with both an acoustic-optic (AO) modulator and a Cr⁴⁺:YAG saturable absorber. These coupled rate equations are solved numerically, and the dependence of pulse width, pulse energy and peak power on the incident pump power at different pulse repetition rates is obtained. The numerical solutions of equations agree well with the experimental results.This revised version was published online in August 2005 with a corrected cover date.     

36.5 W high beam quality 532 nm green laser based on dual-rod AO Q-switched resonator

A high power, high beam quality, compact green laser based on dual-rod AO Q-switched resonator was designed, fabricated and tested. The laser provided a maximum 532 nm average power of 36.5 W at a repetition rate of 65 kHz with the beam quality factor of M² = 1.55 and the optical frequency conversion efficiency from NIR to green laser was as high as 51%. The pulse repetition rate was tunable from 50 kHz to 200 kHz and the overall dimension of the laser was within 500 × 300 × 150 mm³.     

3.62 W of continuous-wave orange-yellow light generated by intra-cavity sum-frequency mixing of Nd:YVO4

A design of laser-diode array (LDA) end-pumped Nd:YVO₄ laser that generates simultaneous laser action at wavelengths 1064 and 1342 nm is presented. Using type-I critical phase matching (CPM) BiB₃O₆, 593.5 nm continuous-wave (cw) Orange-yellow laser is obtained by 1064 nm and 1342 nm in an intra-cavity sum-frequency mixing. The maximum laser output power of 3.62 W is obtained when an incident pump laser of 27.5 W is used. The optical-to-optical conversion is up to 13.2%. To the best of our knowledge, this is the highest conversion efficiency at 593.5 nm in an intra-cavity sum-frequency Nd:YVO₄ laser.     

60 W yellow laser at 561 nm by intracavity frequency doubling of a diode-pumped Q-switched Nd:YAG laser

A high-power yellow laser was achieved by intracavity frequency doubling of a diode-pumped Nd:YAG rod laser. A solid etalon was inserted into the resonator to implement efficient operation of the low-gain single line at 1123 nm transition. By using a LBO crystal inside the cavity as the frequency doubler, the maximum output power of the 561 nm yellow laser was obtained to be as high as 60.3 W with a pulse repetition frequency of 6 kHz, corresponding to an optical-to-optical conversion efficiency of about 6.1%. The output power fluctuation of the yellow laser was measured to be better than 3% in half an hour.     

Control of the pulse width in a diode-pumped passively Q-switched Nd:YVO<Subscript>4</Subscript>/KTP green laser with GaAs saturable absorber

By varying the positions of the saturable absorber in the laser axis and the pump beam waist in the gain medium, respectively, we have theoretically and experimentally studied the control of the pulse width in a diode-pumped passively Q-switched Nd:YVO₄/KTP green laser with GaAs saturable absorber. A rate equation model is introduced, in which the intracavity photon density is assumed to be Gaussian spatial distribution, the longitudinal variation of the intracavity photon density and the pump beam spatial distribution are also considered. The experimental results are consistent with the numerical calculations of the rate equations.     

Diode-pumped passively Q-switched 912 nm Nd:GdVO4 laser and pulsed deep-blue laser by intracavity frequency-doubling

A diode-end-pumped passively Q-switched 912 nm Nd:GdVO₄/Cr⁴⁺:YAG laser and its efficient intracavity frequency-doubling to 456 nm deep-blue laser were demonstrated in this paper. Using a simple V-type laser cavity, pulsed 912 nm laser characteristics were investigated with two kinds of Cr⁴⁺:YAG crystal as the saturable absorbers, which have the different initial transmissivity (T_U) of 95% and 90% at 912 nm. When the T_U = 95% Cr⁴⁺:YAG was used, as much as an average output power of 2.8 W 912 nm laser was achieved at an absorbed pump power of 34.0 W, and the pulse width and the repetition rate were ∼ 40.5 ns and ∼ 76.6 kHz, respectively. To the best of our knowledge, this is the highest average output power of diode-pumped passively Q-switched Nd³⁺-doped quasi-three-level laser. Employing a BiBO as the frequency-doubling crystal, 456 nm pulsed deep-blue laser was obtained with a maximum average output power of 1.2 W at a repetition rate ∼ 42.7 kHz.     

Generation of 7.8 W at 355 nm from an efficient and compact intracavity frequency-tripled Nd:YAG laser

A high power, quasi-continuous wave ultraviolet laser at 355 nm was obtained by intracavity frequency tripling of a diode side-pumped acousto-optic (AO) Q-switched Nd:YAG laser. Type II critical phase-matched KTP and LBO crystals were used for the second harmonic generation and the third harmonic generation, respectively. Under the pump power of 180 W, 7.8 W average output power at 355 nm was obtained at 8 kHz with the pulse width of 50 ns, corresponding to the pump-to-ultraviolet conversion efficiency of 4.3%. The peak power and single pulse energies were estimated to be 18.8 kW and 938 μJ. Its far-field divergence was measured to be about 3.8 mrad. The instability of the 355 nm laser was less than 1% at an output power of 6.3 W for 2 h operation.     

Passively Q-switched Nd:YAG pumped UV lasers at 280 and 374 nm

Pulsed UV lasers at the wavelengths of 374 and 280 nm are realized by cascaded second harmonic generation (SHG) and sum frequency generation (SFG) processes using a Nd:YAG laser at 1123 nm. The Nd:YAG laser is longitudinally pumped and passively Q-switched, and it has a high peak power of 3.2 kW. The UV peak powers at 280 and 374 nm are 100 and 310 W, with pulse lengths of 6 and 8 ns, respectively. Spectral broadening of 374 nm laser by stimulated Raman scattering is studied in single mode pure silica core UV fiber. Realizations of UV lasers enabling compact design at 280 and 374 nm wavelengths are demonstrated.