A 7.5?W quasi-continuous-wave sodium D2 laser generated from?single-pass sum-frequency generation in LBO crystal

We report a high-power, narrow linewidth and tunable quasi-continuous-wave (QCW) yellow laser system at 589.159?nm. The system is of a design employing single-pass sum-frequency generation (SFG) in a LBO crystal by mixing the 1064?nm with 1319?nm lines from a two diode-side-pumped Nd:YAG master oscillator-power amplifier (MOPA) laser system. With the pump power of 35?W at 1064?nm and 25?W at 1319?nm, a 7.5?W QCW output of the SFG yellow laser at 589.159?nm, which is the vacuum wavelength of a general sodium D₂ line, is obtained with a linewidth less than 0.7?GHz and a beam-quality factor M ²=1.2. The wavelength of the laser can be precisely step-tuned from 589.148 to 589.167?nm with an increment of 0.13?pm by means of a temperature-controlled etalon.     

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.     

Quasi-three-level neodymium-doped yttrium aluminum garnet laser emitting at 885 nm

We present a diode-pumped quasi-three-level neodymium-doped yttrium aluminum garnet (Nd:YAG) laser at 885?nm, based on the F_3/24-I_9/24 transition, generally used for a 946?nm emission. Combined with polarization components (Nd:YAG), the electro-optical crystal KH₂PO₄ (KDP) formed a Lyot filter in the cavity and compressed the available gain bandwidth. With an incident pump power of 9.2?W, a 714?mW continuous-wave (CW) output at 885?nm was achieved, and the optical-to-optical efficiency was 7.8%. With an adjustable voltage applied to the KDP crystal, the laser wavelength could be tuned from 885?nm to 884?nm. A simultaneous dual-wavelength Nd:YAG laser at 885?nm and 884?nm was also realized by adjusting the free spectral range of the Lyot filter. To our knowledge, it is the first study that has realized the tuning between the 884 and 885?nm lines and the simultaneous dual-wavelength CW laser operation at 885?nm and 884?nm.     

Nd:YVO₄ amplifier for ultrafast low-power lasers

An Nd:YVO₄ amplifier consisting of two modules end pumped at 808?nm at 30?W total absorbed power has been designed for efficient, diffraction-limited amplification of ultrafast pulses from low-power seeders. We investigated amplification with a 50?mW, 7?ps Nd:YVO₄ oscillator, a 2?mW, 15?ps Yb fiber laser, and a 30?mW, 300?fs Nd:glass laser. Output power as high as 9.5?W with 8?ps pulses was achieved with the 250?MHz vanadate seeder, whereas the 20?MHz fiber laser was amplified to 6?W. The femtosecond seeder allowed extracting Fourier-limited 4?ps pulses at 7?W output power. To our knowledge, these are the shortest pulses from any Nd:YVO₄ laser device with at least 7?W output power. This suggests a novel approach to exploit the gain bandwidth of vanadate amplifiers with high output power levels. Such amplifier technology promises to offer an interesting alternative to high-power thin disk oscillators at few picoseconds duration, as well as to regenerative amplifiers with low-repetition-rate fiber seeders.     

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.     

Nd:YVO4自受激拉曼激光器调Q锁模特性

利用Nd:YVO4激光晶体的自受激拉曼效应,结合Cr:YAG被动锁模技术和倍频技术,实现了结构紧凑的1176 nm和588 nm黄光锁模激光输出。激光器为LD端面泵浦,三镜折叠腔结构,并且采用了透过率为10%的输出镜。Nd:YVO4晶体长度为10 mm,Nd3+离子掺杂质量分数为0.2%,Cr:YAG晶体的初始透过率为67%。10 W激光泵浦时,1176 nm激光平均输出功率为123 mW,调Q包络宽度为6 ns,调Q包络内的锁模脉冲重复频率高达1 GHz。588.2 nm 黄光的平均输出功率为8 mW。     

High-power Nd:YVO4/BaWO4 intracavity Raman laser emitting at 1,103?nm

A compact BaWO₄ Raman laser is realized with a diode-end-pumped acousto-optically Q-switched YVO₄/Nd:YVO₄ laser. Based on the Raman shift at 332?cm^?1 of BaWO₄, first-Stokes generation at 1,103?nm is generated. At a pump power of 11.3?W and a repetition rate of 45?kHz, an average power of 1.59?W is obtained. The pulse width is measured to be 36.8?ns and the beam quality factor (M ²) in the horizontal and vertical directions is determined to be 1.56?±?0.1 and 1.41?±?0.1, respectively. The thermal focal lengths of the laser medium and Raman medium are calculated theoretically.     

6.3 GHz Linearly Tuning Single-Frequency Nd:YVO<Subscript>4</Subscript> Laser

We propose a linearly frequency-tuning single-frequency Nd:YVO₄ laser. We achieve a single-frequency tuning operation with a tuning range of 6.3 GHz and a maximum power of 0.5 W at 1,064 nm by tilting a thin coated etalon and changing the voltage applied to an RTP crystal in a synchronous way. The laser is linearly tuned with a standard frequency variation of ～190 MHz. We estimate the average tuning speed to be 0.81 GHz/s. The tuning range obtained is more than three times the longitudinal mode spacing of the laser resonator.     

High-power neodymium-doped mixed vanadate bounce geometry laser, mode locked with nonlinear mirror

The highest power neodymium-doped mixed vanadate laser oscillator is presented. Using a crystal of Nd:Gd_0.6Y_0.4VO₄ in the bounce geometry, average output powers of 27.5?W in multimode and 23?W in TEM₀₀ operation were achieved. The first nonlinear mirror mode-locked operation of a mixed vanadate laser is also presented, with 16.8?W output power??the highest power mode-locked mixed vanadate oscillator, to the best of our knowledge. Self-starting continuous-wave mode locking was observed at a repetition rate of 100?MHz, pulse duration of 12.7?ps and central wavelength of 1063.8?nm, in TEM₀₀ mode.     

Diode-pumped laser and self-frequency-doubling properties of a Nd³⁺:Na₃La₉O₃(BO₃)₈ crystal

We report efficient, diode-pumped, self-frequency doubling (SFD) in the newly developed laser crystal Nd³⁺:Na₃La₉O₃(BO₃)₈ (Nd:NLBO). More than 730?mW of fundamental output power at 1072?nm was achieved with a slope efficiency of 16.2%. With incident pump power of 8?W, 29?mW of green cw laser emission at 536?nm was observed with proper phase matching. This initial performance and the good optical properties of the crystalline host are encouraging for the development of a high power diode-pumped SFD visible light laser source.     

KGW 晶体外腔式高功率579 nm喇曼黄光激光器

报道了579 nm高功率KGd(WO₄)₂喇曼晶体外腔式喇曼黄光激光器的输出特性.基于808 nm脉冲激光二极管侧面泵浦Nd:YAG陶瓷、腔内BBO电光晶体同步延迟调Q和Ⅰ类临界相位匹配的LBO晶体腔外倍频方案,并通过外腔式KGW晶体Ng轴二阶斯托克斯喇曼频移,获得了579.54 nm黄光激光输出.当脉冲信号重复频率为1 kHz、532 nm泵浦光最高平均功率为5.02 W、脉冲宽度为10.1 ns时,获得了最高平均功率2.58 W、脉冲宽度7.4 ns、峰值功率348.6 kW的579.54 nm二阶斯托克斯喇曼黄光激光输出;532 nm至579.54 nm的光-光转化效率为51.4%、斜率效率为54.8%,光束质量因子M_x-579.54²=5.829、M_y-579.54²=6.336,输出功率不稳定性小于±2.35%.实验表明:外腔式喇曼结构能够高效地获得喇曼黄光,具有很高的光-光转化效率及良好的功率稳定性,并通过脉冲LD结合同步延迟电光调Q可获得高重复频率、高平均功率、窄脉冲宽度和高峰值功率的黄光激光输出.     

Crystal growth, spectroscopy, and highly efficient laser operation of thulium-doped Lu2O3 around 2?��m

We report on the crystal growth, spectroscopic investigations, and laser experiments of thulium-doped Lu₂O₃. Crystals with dopant concentrations between 0.2?at.% and 10?at.% were grown by the Nacken?CKyropoulos and the Heat-Exchanger Method. Absorption and emission spectra are presented, as well as the lifetimes of the energy levels involved in the laser process. The laser experiments were carried out using a Ti:sapphire laser emitting at 796?nm as the pump source, achieving a maximum slope efficiency of 68% with respect to the absorbed pump power and a maximum output power of 1.5?W. A continuous tuning range from 1900?nm to 2110?nm was obtained.     

Narrow-band UV radiation (250–260 nm) from intracavity doubling a single-mode ring dye laser

Generation of continuous-wave, tunable UV radiation (250–260 nm) by intracavity doubling a coumarin-515 ring dye laser is described. A cooled (200–280 K) ADP crystal with end faces cut at Brester's angle is placed inside the laser ring cavity which has been compensated for astigmatism and coma. UV output powers at 254 nm of 120 μW and 60 μW are achieved with the laser operating multimode (bandwidth ? 20 GHz) and single-mode (bandwidth ? 50 MHz), respectively. Continuous single-mode scans over the 253.7 nm mercury profile demonstrate sub-Doppler resolution of the Hg 6s6p ³P^O₁ - 6s²¹S₀ transition.     

A high power CW Ho,Tm:GdVO<Subscript>4</Subscript> laser

In this paper, we report a 22.7 W continuous wave (CW) diode-pumped cryogenic Ho( at %), Tm(3 at %):GdVO₄ laser. The pumping sources of Ho,Tm:GdVO₄ laser are two fiber-coupled laser diodes with fiber core diameter of 0.4 mm, both of them can supply 42 W power laser operating near 802 nm. For input pump power of 64.7 W at 802.5 nm, the output power of 22.7 W in CW operation, optical-to-optical conversion efficiency of 35.1% at 2.05 μm has been attained. The M ² factor was found to be 2.0 under an output power of 16.5 W.     

Injection-locked single-frequency laser with an output power of?220?W

A solid-state laser system for the next generation of gravitational wave detectors with an output power of 220?W at the wavelength of 1064?nm is presented. Single-frequency operation of the laser was achieved by injection-locking of a high-power ring oscillator to an amplified non-planar ring oscillator (NPRO) following the Pound?CDrever?CHall scheme. The high-power stage which features four longitudinally pumped Nd:YAG laser crystals as active media in a ring resonator configuration was designed for reliable long term operation. Using a non-confocal ring cavity to filter the output beam, a pure TEM₀₀ mode with 168 W output power was obtained.     

Nd:GdVO4 self-Raman laser using double-end polarised pumping at 880 nm for high power infrared and visible output

We report and evaluate a novel double-end polarised 880?nm pumping scheme for a Nd:GdVO₄ self-Raman laser, aimed at efficiently generating high output powers in the near-infrared and visible. Compared to conventional single-end pumping, this pump scheme has significant benefits in terms of absorption efficiency, temperature effects in the crystal, and mode-matching between the pumping beam and TEM₀₀ resonator mode. The maximum first-Stokes output powers were 4.1?W for CW operation and 5.63?W for quasi-CW (50?% duty-cycle) operation, with the diode-Stokes conversion efficiency of 11.2?% and 10.3?%, respectively. Visible emission was also realised by intra-cavity frequency-doubling (586.5?nm) or sum-frequency-generation (559?nm) using BBO or LBO crystals. For CW operation, the maximum output power was 3.46?W at 586.5?nm and 4.05?W at 559?nm, with diode-visible conversion efficiency of 10.7?% and 12.5?%; while for quasi-CW operation (50?% duty-cycle), the maximum output peak power was 6.5?W at 586.5?nm and 9.2?W at 559?nm, corresponding to 13.1?% and 18.9?% diode-visible conversion efficiency.     

Dual-wavelength laser operation at 1064 and 914 nm in two Nd:YVO<Subscript>4</Subscript> crystals

We present for the first time a dual-wavelength laser operation at 1064 and 914 nm in two NdYVO₄ crystals. A 879 nm laser diode is used to pump the first Nd:YVO₄ crystal emitting at 914 nm, and the second Nd:YVO₄ laser emitting at 1064 nm intracavity pumped at 914 nm. A total output power of 4.28 W at the two fundamental wavelengths was achieved at the absorbed pump power of 13.8 W. The M² values for 914 and 1064 nm lights at the maximum output power were found to be around 1.3 and 1.1, respectively.     

Continuous-wave high-power multi-pass pumped thin-disc Nd:GdVO4 laser

A thin-disc Nd:GdVO₄ laser in multi-pass pumping scheme was developed. Continuous-wave output power of 13.9 W at 1.06 μm for an absorbed power at 808 nm of 22 W was demonstrated from a 250-μm thick, 0.5-at.% Nd:GdVO₄ in a 4-pass pumping; the slope efficiency in absorbed power was 0.65, or 0.47 in input power. Output performances were also investigated under diode laser pumping at 879 nm, directly into the emitting ⁴F_3/2 level: maximum power of 3.6 W was obtained at 6.2 W of absorbed power with 0.69 slope efficiency. Compared with pumping at 808 nm, into the highly absorbing ⁴F_5/2 level, improvements of laser parameter in absorbed power (increase of slope efficiency, decrease of threshold) were obtained, showing the advantages of the pumping into the emitting level. However, the laser performances expressed vs. the incident power were modest owing to the low absorption efficiency at 879 nm. Thus, increased number of passes of the medium would be necessary in order to match the performances in input power obtained under 808-nm pumping.     

Efficient passively Q-switched Nd:YLF TEM00-mode laser at 1053 nm: selection of polarization with birefringence

The natural birefringence of the Nd:YLF crystal is utilized to achieve a reliable TEM₀₀-mode linearly polarized laser at 1053 nm in a compact concave-plano resonator. The efficient selection of the polarization relies on the combined effect of the difference in diffraction angle for ??- and ??-polarization of a wedged laser crystal and the alignment sensitivity of an optical resonator. We further employ a Cr⁴⁺:YAG saturable absorber to perform the passively Q-switched operation. At an incident pump power of 12?W, the maximum average output power is up to 2.3?W with a pulse repetition rate of 8?kHz and a pulse width of 9?ns. The pulse energy and peak power are found to be 288???J and 32?kW, respectively.     

Solid-state laser system for laser cooling of sodium

We demonstrate a frequency-stabilized, all-solid laser source at 589 nm with up to 800 mW output power. The laser relies on sum-frequency generation from two laser sources at 1064 nm and 1319 nm through a PPKTP crystal in a doubly resonant cavity. We obtain conversion efficiencies as high as 2 W/W² after careful optimization of the cavity parameters. The output wavelength is tunable over 60 GHz, which is sufficient to lock on the sodium D₂ line. The robustness, beam quality, spectral narrowness and tunability of our source make it an alternative to dye lasers for atomic physics experiments with sodium atoms.