High-efficiency diode-pumped acousto-optically Q-switched 1123 nm ceramic Nd:YAG laser

A high-efficiency diode-pumped acousto-optically (AO) Q-switched ceramic Nd:YAG (cNd:YAG) laser operating at 1123 nm is demonstrated for the first time. With an incident pump power of 17.11 W and a pulse repetition rate of 30 kHz, an average output power of 5.86 W is obtained. The optical-to-optical conversion efficiency is 34.2% and the slope efficiency is 39.1%.     

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%.     

Efficient diode-pumped actively Q-switched Nd:YAG/BaWO4 intracavity Raman laser

Barium tungstate (BaWO4) is employed to achieve efficient stimulated Raman scattering conversion in a compact diode-pumped actively Q-switched Nd:YAG laser. With an incident pump power of 9.2 W, 1.56 W of 1181 nm first-Stokes average output power was generated at a pulse repetition rate of 20 kHz, corresponding to an optical-to-optical conversion efficiency of 16.9%.     

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.     

Highly efficient diode-pumped actively Q-switched Nd:YAG-SrWO(4) intracavity Raman laser

A highly efficient diode-pumped actively Q-switched intracavity Raman laser with SrWO(4) as the Raman-active medium is presented. As high as 23.8% diode-to-Stokes optical conversion efficiency is obtained with an incident pump power of 7.17 W and a pulse repetition rate of 15 kHz.     

Single-mode high-peak-power passively Q-switched diode-pumped Nd:YAG laser

We have demonstrated an efficient, compact, passively Q-switched single-mode diode-pumped Nd:YAG laser that uses Cr(4+):YAG as a saturable absorber. Linear- and ring-cavity configurations were demonstrated. Pulse energies and widths were, respectively, 1.5mJ and 3.9ns for the linear cavity and 2.1mJ and 12ns for the ring cavity.     

Compact efficient diode-end-pumped intracavity frequency-tripled Nd:YAG 355 nm laser

A compact efficient diode-end-pumped acousto-optically Q-switched intracavity-frequency-tripled Nd:YAG 355 nm ultraviolet laser was realized. Intracavity sub-resonators with anti-reflection and high-reflection coated mirrors were used to get higher efficiency of third harmonic generation. With two LBO crystals used in frequency doubling and tripling processes respectively, greater than 1.2 W 355 nm average output power was obtained under the absorbed pump power of 10 W and the repetition rate of 5 kHz. The corresponding pump-to-ultraviolet conversion efficiency was determined to be as high as 12%. At 5 kHz, the minimize pulse width was obtained to be 14.2 ns with the peak power of 16.9 kW and single pulse energy of 240 μJ. The instability of the 355 nm laser was measured to be less than 4.2% at an output power of 0.9 W within half an hour operation.     

Compact efficient diode-pumped Nd:YVO4 Q-switched blue laser with intracavity frequency tripling

We demonstrate a compact efficient diode-pumped acousto-optically Q-switched intracavity-frequency-tripled Nd:YVO₄ blue laser. The optimum polarization state is experimentally investigated to optimize the output performance. Greater than 280 mW of 447-nm average power at a repetition rate of 25 kHz was generated with a 15-W diode pump power. At 25 kHz, the pulse width is shorter than 15 ns and the peak power is higher than 800 W.     

Intracavity frequency-tripling of actively mode-locked diode-pumped Nd:YAG laser

We report the first diode-pumped solid-state laser operating in cw-mode-locked regime and simultaneously achieving intracavity frequency-tripling. This laser provide UV picosecond pulses (λ=355 nm) of 10 ps duration with 0.5 mW average power at 150 MHz repetition rate. A different set of adjustments gave rise to a Q-switched mode-locked regime. Trains of hundred UV pulses of 60 ps duration and 4 W peak power were produced in this latter case at 50 kHz repetition rate. Received: 12 October 1998 / Revised version: 12 December 1998 / Published online: 26 May 1999     

Compact and efficient diode-pumped passively Q-switched Nd:GdVO_4 laser at 1.06μm

Diode-pumped passively Q-switched Nd:GdVO4/Cr4+:YAG lasers with a simple flat-flat cavity were demonstrated. The maximum average output power at 1.06 μm was 1.25 W. The highest peak power and pulse energy were 7.56 kW and 75μJ, respectively, with the pulse repetition rate of 11.1 kHz and pulse width of 10 ns at the incident pump power of 8 W.     

Q-switched and mode-locked diode-pumped Nd:YAG laser with an LT-GaAs

Simultaneous Q-switching and mode-locking (QML) is accomplished in a diode-pumped Nd:YAG laser using low-temperature GaAs (LT-GaAs) as the saturable absorber, which also acts as an output coupler at the same time. The repetition rate of the Q-switched envelope increased from 25 to 40 kHz as the pump power increased from 2.2 to 6.9 W. The mode-locked pulses inside the Q-switched pulse envelope had a repetition rate of 714 MHz. A maximum average output power of 770 mW was obtained.     

High-power high-stability Q-switched green laser with intracavity frequency doubling of diode-pumped composite ceramic Nd:YAG laser

We successfully obtain high-average-power high-stability Q-switched green laser based on diode-side-pumped composite ceramic Nd:YAG in a straight plano-concave cavity. The temperature distribution in composite ceramic Nd:YAG crystal is numerically analyzed and compared with that of conventional Nd:YAG crystal. By use of a composite ceramic Nd:YAG rod and a type-II high gray track resistance KTP (HGTR-KTP) crystal, a green laser with an average output power of 165 W is obtained at a repetition rate of 25 kHz, with a diode-to-green optical conversion of 14.68%, and a pulse width of 162 ns. To the best of our knowledge, both the output power and optical-to-optical efficiency are the highest values for green laser systems with intracavity frequency doubling of this novel composite ceramic Nd:YAG laser to date. The power fluctuation at around 160 W is lower than 0.3% in 2.5 hours.     

Study on CW Nd:YAG infrared laser at 1319 nm

A continuous wave (CW) Nd:YAG infrared laser at 1319 nm is reported in this paper. The energy level of 1319-nm wave was analyzed. The repression of 1064-nm lasing and enhancement of 1319-nm output power were discussed. Mirror coating and cavity structure were studied and a maximum CW output power of 43 W at 1319 nm was achieved in experiments.     

Wood engraving by Q-switched diode-pumped frequency-doubled Nd:YAG green laser

Laser deep engraving is one of the most promising technologies to be used in wood carver operations. In this method, a laser beam is used to ablate a solid wood bulk, following predetermined patterns. The sculpture is obtained by repeating this process on each successive thin layer. Obviously, in order to achieve larger material removal rates, the process needs a controllable variation of the depth to carve a 3D (three dimensional) profiles.The degree of precision of the shape, the removal rate and the surface quality during the engraving process strictly depend on the materials properties, the laser source characteristics and the process parameters.The aim of this work is to investigate the influence of the process parameters on the material removal rates by engraving panels made of different types of wood using a Q-switched diode-pumped Nd:YAG green laser working with a wavelength λ=532 nm. The examined parameters were: the mean power that depends on the pulse frequency, the beam speed and the number of laser scansions, also called repetitions. The working parameters and the engraved depth were related and an energy-based model was proposed in order to predict the latter.Experimental results showed that the Q-switched diode-pumped frequency-doubled Nd:YAG green laser can be successfully used to machine different types of wood, obtaining decorative drawing and 3D engraved geometries without burning. However, an accurate selection of the wood types and the process parameters is necessary in order to obtain deep engraving without carbonization and a homogeneous carving.     

Diode-end-pumped passively Q-switched 1319 nm Nd:YAG ceramic laser with a V<Superscript>3+</Superscript>:YAG saturable absorber

The performance of a LD-end-pumped passively Q-switched Nd:YAG ceramic laser at 1319 nm with a V³⁺:YAG saturable absorber was demonstrated for the first time to the best of our knowledge. The average output power of 1.8 W was obtained under the pump power of 23.7 W, corresponding to the optical conversion efficiency of 7.8% and slope efficiency of 9%. The minimum pulse width was 128 ns with the pulse repetition rate of 230 kHz, which was attained with a T = 2.8% output coupler at the pump power of 23.7 W.     

Radially polarized,actively Q-switched,and end-pumped Nd:YAG laser

In this paper, we demonstrated an actively Q-switched, radially polarized, and laser-diode end-pumped Nd:YAG laser with an acousto-optic modulator as the Q switch and a photonic crystal grating as the output coupler. The laser generated pulses of 26.4–67.2 ns duration, and the repetition rate can be continuously adjusted from 500 Hz to 9.238 kHz with peak power up to 7.75 kW. Such a radially polarized pulse would facilitate numerous applications.     

Experimental development of a monolithic passively Q-switched diode-pumped Nd:YAG laser

The development of a passively Q-switched Nd:YAG laser is described in quite some experimental detail involving 3 pump diode arrays (70 W, 300 W, 600 W). Emphasis is set on the influence of pump beam profile and optimum fiber diameter on achievable pulse energies in the chosen case of fiber-coupling for the pump radiation (adjustable parameters: initial transmission, mirror reflectivity and resonator length; this work having been preceded by numerical simulations not covered in this paper). The coupling optics plays a major role on basis of variable fiber-lens distance and focal length in the formation of single or even multiple pulses. Finally, a monolithic demonstrator is presented which could be employed for applications like the induction of chemical reactions in general, i.e. ignition, for instance, in more detail. Stable ns-operation with emitted pulse energies up to 15 mJ could be achieved.     

High power high beam quality diode-pumped 1319-nm Nd:YAG oscillator-amplifier laser system

This paper demonstrated a high power and high beam quality diode-pumped 1319-nm Nd:YAG master oscillator-power amplifier laser system. A thermally near-unstable resonator with four-rod birefringence compensation flat--flat cavity was adopted as the master oscillator. A solid etalon was inserted in the unidirectional ring resonator to compress the laser linewidth. Under a repetition rate of 500~Hz and pulse width of 160~\mus, the master oscillator delivers an average output power of 16.8~W at 1319~nm with linear polarisation, beam quality factor M^{2} = 1.16 and linewidth of 3.2~GHz. A double-pass power amplifier with two amplifier stages was employed for higher power scaling and the output power was amplified to be 25.9~W with M^{2} = 1.43.     

Efficient diode-pumped passively Q-switched laser with Nd:YAG/Cr:YAG composite crystal

Diffusion bonded Nd:YAG/Cr:YAG composite laser crystal has been employed to perform a compact diode-pumped passively Q-switched laser. At the incident pump power of 3.3 W and pulse repetition rate of 16.3 kHz, the maximum average output of 592 mW has been obtained, corresponding to an optical-to-optical conversion efficiency of 18%. Stable passively Q-switched operation with peak power of 6.5 kW and pulse duration of 6 ns was also achieved. It has been experimentally revealed that Nd:host/Cr:YAG composite structure is a promising material for compact cost-effective Q-switched laser sources with high-peak power and short pulse duration. In addition, thermal lens effect (TLE) in the active medium and its impact on the Q-switched laser performance have been analyzed.     

Diode-pumped passively Q-switched Nd:YAG ceramic laser at 1319 nm with Co2+:LaMgAl11O19 crystal as the saturable absorber

The performance of a LD-pumped passively Q-switched Nd:YAG ceramic laser at 1319 nm with a Co:LMA saturable absorber was demonstrated for the first time to the best of our knowledge. The average output power of 1.58 W was obtained at the pump power of 23.3 W, corresponding to the optical conversion efficiency of 6.78% and slope efficiency of 11.2%. The minimum pulse width was 23 ns with the pulse repetition rate of 83 kHz, which was attained with a T = 1% output coupler at the pump power of 23.3 W.