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.     

YVO4晶体及其掺Nd的喇曼光谱

本文报道了对YVO4晶体及其掺Nd的喇曼光谱的测量结果,用这些结果可以了解到这种材料的声子能谱情况,在与其它基质材料比较中可以看出它的特点是：分立的低声子在500－800cm^-1之间有一个间隙,主要部分分布在800－900cm^-1附近,根据群论分析可以得出各喇曼谱线相应的对称性,而且可看出这些喇曼谱线主要来源于VO4^3-的振动,对这种不均匀分布的声子能变对于其光谱性能可能产生的影响也作了分析讨论,测量结果还发现掺杂能抑制原有的高能声子。     

激光二极管泵浦Nd:YVO4/YVO4复合晶体绿光激光器

采用一种新型的Nd:YVO4/YVO4复合晶体,利用V型折叠腔,研究了高功率激光二极管端面泵浦的Nd:YVO4/YVO4复合晶体激光器基频1.06 μm及倍频532 nm激光的输出特性.当泵浦功率为24.6 W时,获得1.06 μm激光的最大输出功率为11.7 W,光-光转换效率为48%.当泵浦功率为17 W时,获得了5.32 W的绿光输出,光-光转换效率达到31.3%.     

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.     

High-power eye-safe KTA-OPO driven by YVO4/Nd:YVO4 composite laser

We present a high-power 1.53 μm laser based on intracavity KTA-OPO driven by diode-end-pumped acousto-optical Q-switched YVO₄/Nd:YVO₄ composite. The composite crystal was utilized for reducing the thermal effect, and the mode mismatch compensating OPO cavity was designed for efficient OPO conversion. The output power of eye-safe laser at 1535 nm was up to 4.4 W with the pump power of 27 W, corresponding to a diode-to-signal conversion efficiency of 16.3%. To our knowledge, this is the highest output power in diode-end-pumped circumstances. In the experiment, the strong yellow light generated by Raman conversion and frequency doubling in the KTA crystal was observed.     

Study on optical characteristics of Nd:YVO4/YVO4 composite crystal laser

Thermal effect in crystals is the main obstacle blocking diode-pumped solid state laser to get high and stable output power. Diffusion bonding crystal has been demonstrated to be an effective method to relieve the thermal lensing theoretically based on the numerical heat analysis to the end-pumped anisotropic laser crystal. The temperature distributions in Nd:YVO4/YVO4 composite crystal and conventional crystal were analyzed and compared. The end-pumped Nd:YVO4/YVO4 composite crystal laser was designed and set up with z-cavity. The maximum output powers of 9.87 W at 1064 nm and 6.14 W at 532 nm were obtained at the incident pump power of 16.5 W. The highest optical-optical conversion efficiencies were up to 59.8% at 1064 nm and 37.2% at 532 nm respectively.     

Grazing-incidence YVO4-Nd:YVO4 composite thin slab laser with low thermo-optic aberrations

We present a novel grazing-incidence composite thin slab laser (CTSL) with an almost aberration-free gain medium. The laser consists of a 260-microm thin Nd:YVO4 plate that is diffusion bonded to an undoped YVO4 slab. The Nd:YVO4 plate is cooled at just one side, suppressing temperature gradients that would induce wave-front distortions in the laser field. The pump light of a noncollimated diode bar is directly coupled into the undoped YVO4 slab and guided by total internal reflection to the attached Nd:YVO4 plate. Since any pump-beam-shaping optics can be omitted, the laser is simple and compact. We obtained transverse multimode optical output powers of 14 and 9.3 W with M2 < or = 1.3.     

Laser performance of grown-together YVO4/Nd:YVO4 composite crystal at continuous-wave 914 nm

We demonstrated a diode-end-pumped continuous-wave 914 nm laser using a novel grown-together YVO₄/Nd:YVO₄ crystal for the first time. A maximum output power at 914 nm of 7.5 W with an optical-optical efficiency of 16.3% and a slope efficiency of 24.3% was obtained when the incident pump power was 46.2 W. The beam quality factor M ² was 3.2 at the output power of 6.0 W. The quality and specification of the grown-together composite YVO₄/Nd:YVO₄ crystal should be improved. Meanwhile, energy-transfer upconversion spectrum of the composite YVO₄/Nd:YVO₄ crystal laser was also investigated.     

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.     

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     

Monolithic Nd:YVO4 slab oscillator-amplifier

We report on a compact, efficient, and reliable monolithic Nd:YVO(4) slab oscillator-amplifier with an output power of 29.3 W in cw operation and an optical-to-optical efficiency of 24%. In electro-optically Q-switched operation, 28.8 W of average power at a repetition rate of 100 kHz with a pulse width of 15 ns was measured. The RMS stability of the pulse energy is better than 1.7%. The beam quality M(2) in both cw and pulse models was under 1.3.     

Diode-pumped doubly Q-switched YVO4/Nd:YVO4 laser with BBO electric-optic Q-switch and Cr4+:YAG saturable absorber

In the experiment, we have demonstrated the performance of a laser-diode, end-pumped, doubly Q-switched YVO₄/Nd:YVO₄ laser with both a BBO electric-optic (EO) Q-switch and Cr⁴⁺:YAG saturable absorber. At a maximum incident pump power of 15 W and an EO Q-switch repetition rate of 8 kHz, the stable laser pulses with the pulse duration 5.28 ns, the single pulse energy 0.14 mJ, and the pulse peak power 26 kW are obtained. The experimental results show that the double Q-switched laser with EO and Cr⁴⁺:YAG can generate the shorter pulse and the higher peak power in comparison to singly Q-switched laser with EO.     

YVO4晶体的高效受激拉曼散射

报道了YVO4晶体在532 nm、30 ps脉冲下的的高效受激拉曼散射。采用腔外单次通过方式测量了不同长度YVO4晶体1阶斯托克斯受激拉曼散射的阈值,并得到该晶体的稳态增益系数为16.0±0.5 cm/GW。实验中观察到2阶斯托克斯线(558.6 nm5、87.8 nm)和1阶反斯托克斯线(508.0 nm),受激拉曼散射的整体转换效率高于50%。     

A 15.1 W continuous wave TEM00 mode laser using a YVO4/Nd:YVO4 composite crystal

A effective continuous-wave (CW), high power laser generated using a YVO₄/Nd:YVO₄ composite crystal is presented. 18.8 W output power in multi-mode has been achieved with a maximum absorbed pump power of 31.2 W, corresponding to an optical-to-optical efficiency of 60.26%. In TEM₀₀ mode operation, 15.1 W output power also has been achieved with the maximum absorbed pump power of 31.2 W, corresponding to an optical-to-optical efficiency of 47.69%. With a 200 mm focal-length positive lens and using the moving knife-edge method, the beam quality factor is measured to be M² = 1.2 for TEM₀₀ mode beam.     

掺Tm钒酸钇的光学性能

钒酸钇(YVO4)晶体有高的激光损伤阈值和高的激光输出斜率效率,也有很好的机械性能和化学稳定性.从测量TmYVO4晶体的吸收谱入手,考虑该晶体的各向异性效应,拟合出Tm3+的光学强度参量,进一步得到了振子强度f,辐射跃迁速率A和积分发射截面Σ等光学参量.在350-2500nm范围内,YVO4晶体基质的吸收很小,而Tm3+在YVO4晶体中发光能力很强;特有的是蓝光1D2→3F4(约为454nm)跃迁有极大的振子强度(38×10-6)和积分发射截面(33×10-18cm),有利于实现短波长的激光输出.     

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%.     

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。     

Far-infrared optical properties of YVO4 single crystal

Near-normal incident infrared reflectivity spectra of a (001) YVO₄ single crystal have been measured at different temperatures in the frequency region between 100 and 6000 cm^-1. The reflectivity spectra are analyzed with the factorized form of the dielectric function, and the dielectric properties and optical conductivity of the YVO₄ crystal are obtained. From the TO/LO splitting, effective charges at different temperatures are calculated to study the ionicity of YVO₄. The internal modes of the VO₄^3- ion and the external modes of the Y(VO₄) lattice are compared with SiO₄^4- in zircon and with other rare-earth vanadates.     

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.