A 5.9-mJ 500-Hz Electro-Optic Q-Switched 1053 nm Nd：LiLuF4 Laser

An efficient and high power 1053 nm electro-optic Q-switched Nd：LiLuF4 laser, end-pumped by two fiber coupled laser diodes at wavelength 806 nm, is reported for the first time. With an incident pump power of 24.4 W, the maximum laser output power of 7.3 W is achieved in free-running mode, and the optical conversion efficiency is 29.8%. For the Q-switched operation, the shortest pulse width of 17ns is obtained at the pulse repetition rate of 500 Hz, corresponding to the pulse energy of 5.9mJ with the peak power of 0.35 MW.     

A High-Pulse-Energy High-Beam-Quality Tunable Ti:Sapphire Laser Using a Prism-Dispersion Cavity

A high-pulse-energy high-beam-quality tunable Ti:sapphire laser pumped by a frequency-doubled Nd:YAG laser is demonstrated.Using a fused-silica prism as the dispersion element,a tuning range of 740-855 nm is obtained.At an incident pump energy of 774 mJ,the maximum output energy of 104 mJ at 790 nm with a pulse width of100 μs is achieved at a repetition rate of 5 Hz.To the best of our knowledge,it is the highest pulse energy at790 nm with pulse width of hundred micro-seconds for an all-solid-state laser.The linewidth of output is 0.5 nm,and the beam quality factor M~2 is 1.16.The high-pulse-energy high-beam-quality tunable Ti:sapphire laser in the range of 740-855 nm can be used to establish a more accurate and consistent absolute scale of second-order optical-nonlinear coefficients for KBe_2BO_3F_2 measured in a wider wavelength range and to assess Miller's rule q uantitatively.     

Experimental Study on Dual Wavelength and Dual Pulse Q-Switched Frequency Doubling on a Tunable Cr： LiSAF Laser

A flashlamp-pumped Cr：LiSAF laser system with a voltage controlled Q-switch structure in the cavity is designed. A dual-wavelength and dual-pulse tunable laser output is gained. The relation of laser output behavior with input energy is studied experimentally. The output is dual-pulsed with the energy of the 32m J/pulse producing the total output energy of 64mJ and the pulse width is about 27ns at 850nm. Then, we use one LBO crystal as the frequency doubling crystal to obtain a dual wavelength （448.1 nm and 449.15nm） and dual pulse laser. The output for one wavelength is about 10.3mJ and the line width is less than 0.02nm.     

Diode-side-pumped AO Q-switched Tm,Ho:LuLF laser

A diode-side-pumped Tm,Ho:LuLiF laser at 2-m wavelength obtained in a ring resonator and its amplification experiment are reported. At the maximum pump energy of 4.7 J available for the oscillator,the output energy per pulse for the oscillator decreases from 904 to 483 mJ in free running mode,and decreases from 106 to 68 mJ in Q-switched mode,with an increase of pump pulse repetition rate from 1 to 5 Hz. When considering the amplifier,99-mJ Q-switched output energy is achieved at 5-Hz repetition rate.     

A 52-mJ Ho：YAG Master Oscillator and Power Amplifier with Kilohertz Pulse Repetition Frequency

We report on a high energy, high repetition rate Ho：YAG master oscillator and power amplifier （MOPA）, res- onantly dual-end-pumped by Tm：YLF lasers at room temperature. At the pulse repetition frequency of i kHz, we demonstrate a maximum energy of 30mJ per pulse with a 28.2ns pulse width in a Ho：YAG oscillator system resonantly double-end-pumped by Tm：YLF lasers. A maximum energy of 52mJ per pulse with a 30.5ns pulse width is achieved in the Ho： YA G amplifier, corresponding to a peak power of approximately 1.7 MW. The output wavelength is at 2090.6nm and 2096.9nm, and a beam quality factor of M2-2.1 is achieved.     

Highly efficient single longitudinal mode-pulsed green laser

A novel design for a highly efficient 1-kHz single-frequency green laser is proposed.An efficient singlefrequency laser pulse output at 532-nm wavelength may be obtained by combining the injection seeding with intracavity frequency doubling in a compact U-shaped cavity formed by two plano dichroic mirrors in an end-pumping arrangement.The laser is capable of producing green pulses with a total energy of 6.3 mJ at a pulse repetition rate of 1 kHz.The pulse width is about 10 ns and the optical-optical efficiency from the 808-nm pump source to the 532-nm green output is around 12.7%.     

Efficient Compound-Cavity Eye-Safe KTP OPO at 1.57 μupm Pumped by an Electro-Optic Q-Switched Nd:YAG Laser

An efficient high-energy eye-safe optical parametric oscillator (OPO) based on a type-II non-critically phase-matched KTP crystal is demonstrated. The KTP OPO is pumped by a quasi-cw diode side-pumped electro-optic Q-switched Nd:YAG laser in a compound-cavity configuration. The maximum output energy of the signal wavelength at 1.57 μm is 66.5mJ, corresponding to an electrical-to-optical conversion efficiency of 4.47% and an optical-to-optical conversion efficiency of 12.1%. The pulse width (FWHM) is about 3.6ns with a peak power of 18.5MW. The output energy is insensitive to repetition rate and demonstrates good stability.     

Conductively cooled 1-kHz single-frequency Nd:YAG laser for remote sensing

A conductively cooled,laser diode(LD) end-pumped,injection-seeded single-frequency Nd:YAG laser is designed and implemented.The laser is capable of producing an 8-mJ Q-switched pulse with a 11-ns pulse width at 1 064 nm and at a pulse repetition rate of 1 000 Hz.At the maximum output energy of 8 mJ,the frequency jitter is less than 3.5 MHz(root mean square(RMS)) over two minutes,and the linewidth is around 54.2 MHz.The M2 of the laser beam is approximately 1.30 in both horizontal and vertical directions.The optimized ramp-fire technique is applied to build reliable single longitudinal mode oscillating.     

Theoretical and experimental investigations of quasi-continuous wave diode array side-pumped Yb＇YAG slab laser

An analytical model of quasi-continuous wave (quasi-CW) diode array side-pumped slab laser for Yb:YAG oscillator in long-pulse free-running has been developed based on the CW model. In this model we first introduce a new parameter, pump pulse width, and make the model available for use in the quasi-CW model. We also give an analytical equation of laser delay time to calculate the laser pulse width. A detailed model is also presented for a new structure laser design, taking account of the geometry of Yb:YAG slab. A quasi-CW diode array side-pumped Yb:YAG slab laser is investigated theoretically and experimentally. Experiments yield a quasi-CW output energy up to 20.36 mJ with the laser pulse width of 654.55 μs at 1049 nm when the diode arrays operate at 25 Hz and 1 ms pulse width. The crystal dimensions are 3 mm×8 mm×1 mm and the doping density is 10 at.%. The experimental results are in good agreement with the predictions of the theoretical model.     

Demonstration of Mo Soft X-Ray Lasers with a Grazing Incidence Pumping Scheme in the XL-II Facility

A Ni-like Mo soft x-ray laser （SXRLs） operating at 18.9nm has been demonstrated by employing a grazing incidence pumping scheme with 120m^3 in the 200ps pre-pulse and 140mJ in the 200fs main pulse. The SXRL gain is estimated to be 1.5-3cm^-1 when a grazing incidence angle of 14° is applied. Numerical simulations are also performed to investigate the dynamics of the ion distribution. It is found that a high intensity at 2.4× 10^14 W/cm^2 of the 200fs main pulse could heat the pre-plasma rapidly to an appropriate temperature for population inversion, and could compensate for the shortage of the total pump energy to a certain extent.     

Pulse Operation of Chemical Oxygen-Iodine Laser by Pulsed Gas Discharge with the Assistance of Spark Pre-ionization

The continuous wavelength chemical oxygen-iodine laser can be turned into pulse operation mode in order to obtain high energy and high pulse power. We propose an approach to produce iodine atoms instantaneously by pulsed gas discharge with the assistance of spark pre-ionization to achieve the pulsed goal. The influence of spark pre-ionization on discharge homogeneity is discussed. Voltage-current characteristics are shown and discussed in existence of the pre-ionization capacitor and peaking capacitor. The spark pre-ionization and peaking capacitor are very helpful in obtaining a stable and homogeneous discharge. The lasing is achieved at the total pressure of 2.2-2.9 kPa and single pulse energy is up to 180 mJ, the corresponding specific output energy is 1.0 3/L.     

High-power picosecond regenerative amplifier based on CW diode side-pumped Nd:YAG with high beam quality

A compact high-power picosecond regenerative amplifier based on continuous wave(CW) diode sidepumped Nd:YAG is demonstrated.Average power of 8.8 W is achieved at a repetition rate of 5 kHz at a wavelength of 1 064 nm with a pulse duration of 28 ps,corresponding to a pulse energy of 1.76 mJ and a peak power of 62.9 MW.The beam quality is close to the di?raction limit with Mx2 = 1.24,My2 = 1.03.To the best of our knowledge,this is the highest pulse energy obtained from a CW diode pumped Nd:YAG picosecond regenerative amplifier.     

High-efficiency 1598.5-nm third Stokes Raman laser based on barium nitrate crystal

A high-efficiency eye-safe Raman laser was demonstrated by use of the third Stokes radiation in a Ba(NO_3)_2 crystal pumped by a 1064-nm Nd:YAG laser. The output wavelength of the Raman laser was 1598.5 nm with a full-width at half-maximum (FWHM) of 1.5 nm. With an incident pump energy of 140 mJ, a maximum of 18-mJ Raman output energy was generated at a repetition rate of 30 Hz, corresponding to an optical-to-optical conversion efficiency of 12.9%. The Raman pulse duration was shortened to 2.9 ns compared with that of the pump pulse of 19.3 ns. The eye-safe solid-state Raman laser is expected to have wide applications in range-finding, telemetry, laser radar, and other aspects.     

Kilohertz Electro-Optic Q-Switched Nd：YAG Ceramic Laser

We investigate the lasing characteristics of a laser-diode-array side-pumped electro-optic Q-switched Nd： Y3Al5O12 ceramic laser operating at 1000 Hz pulse repetition rate. Using a YAG polycrystalline rod with Nd^3＋ concentration of 1 at. % as the gain medium, pumping with 808 nm laser-diode-arrays, the Q-switched laser output at 1064 nm wavelength with 23mJ pulse energy and less than 12ns FWHM pulse width are obtained at a pumping power of about 400 W, the slope efficiency is around 15%, the output beam divergence angle is about 1.2mrad.     

Ionisation of Rydberg hydrogen atom near a metal surface by short pulse laser

In the ionisation of Rydberg hydrogen atoms near a metal surface,the electron will escape from the nucleus and arrive at the detector in a time sequence.This probability flux train relies on the initial electron wave packet irradiated by the laser pulse.For simplicity,the laser pulse is usually simplified to a delta function in energy domain,resulting in a sharp initial arrival time with an exponentially decaying tail at the detector.Actually and semiclassically,the initial outgoing wave should be modeled as an ensemble of trajectories propagating away from the atomic core in all directions with a range of launch times and a range of energies.In this case,each pulse in the pulse train is averaged out rather than a sharp profile.We examine how energy and time averaging of the electron wave packet affects the resolution of escaping electron pulses and study the energy dependence of the arrival time for each pulse in the ionisation train.An optimization condition for the laser pulse shape to generate narrow ionisation electron pulse in the train is obtained.The ionisation rates with various excitation energy are calculated also,which show the excitation to higher N Rydberg states will narrow the electron pulse as well.     

Fe:ZnSe laser pumped by a 2.93-μm Cr,Er:YAG laser

We demonstrated an Fe:ZnSe laser pumped by a 2.93-μm Cr, Er:YAG laser at liquid nitrogen and room temperature in single-shot free-running operation for the first time. The xenon flash lamp pumped Cr, Er:YAG laser had a maximum single pulse energy of 1.414 J, and the threshold and slope efficiency were 141.70 J and 0.70% which were respectively reduced by 29.3% and increased by 52.2% compared with the Er:YAG laser. At liquid nitrogen temperature of 77 K, the maximum single pulse energy of the Fe:ZnSe laser was 197.6 m J, corresponding to a slope efficiency of 13.4%. The central wavelength and full width at half maximum(FWHM) linewidth were 4037.4 nm and 122.0 nm, respectively. At room temperature, the laser generated a maximum single pulse energy of 3.5 mJ at the central wavelength of 4509.6 nm with an FWHM linewidth of 171.5 nm.     

Ultraviolet Raman lidar for high-accuracy profiling of aerosol extinction coefficient

An ultraviolet （UV） Raman lidar system at 354.7 nm has been developed for accurately measuring the aerosol extinction profiles. A spectroscopic filter combining a high-spectral-resolution grating with two narrowband mirrors is used to separate the vibrational Raman scattering signal of N2 at a central wavelength of 386.7 nm and the elastic scattering signal at 354.7 nm. The aerosol extinction is derived from the Raman scattering of N2 and the elastic scattering by the use of Raman method and Klett method, respectively. The derived results of aerosol extinction are used to compare the difference of two retrieval methods, and the preliminary experiment shows that the Raman lidar system operated in analog detection mode has the capability of measuring aerosol profiles up to a height of 3 km with a laser energy of 250 mJ and an integration time of 8 min.     

High-peak-power passively Q-switched 1.3 μm Nd:YAG/V~(3+):YAG laser pumped by a pulsed laser diode

We demonstrate a high-pulse-energy, short-pulse-width passively Q-switched(PQS) Nd:YAG∕V3t:YAG laser at 1.3 μm, which is end-pumped by a pulsed laser diode. During the PQS regime, a maximum total output pulse energy of 3.3 m J is obtained under an absorbed pump pulse energy of 21.9 m J. Up to 400 μJ single-pulse energy is realized with the shortest pulse width of 6.16 ns and a pulse repetition frequency of 34.1 k Hz,corresponding to a peak power of 64.9 k W. The high-energy laser pulse is operated in the dual wavelengths of 1319 and 1338 nm, which is a potential laser source for THz generation.     

Compact high-power mode-locked Nd：YVO4 picosecond laser using multiple-pass cavity

A stable self-starting mode-locked Nd:YVO4 laser with a Herriott-type multiple-pass cavity(MPC) operating at 1 064 nm is demonstrated.An in-band 880-nm laser diode is used as an end-pump and a semiconductor saturable absorber mirror(SESAM) is used for passive mode locking(ML) and providing pulse durations of 14 ps.At a pump power of 26.4 W,the maximum average output power is as high as 10.5 W at a repetition rate of 22 MHz,which corresponds to a single pulse energy of 0.48 μJ.Optical-tooptical conversion efficiency is as high as 39.8% at the maximum output power with a slope efficiency of 55.2%.     

Passively Q-switched Nd~(3+):YAG laser with corner cube

A passively Q-switched Nd3 :YAG laser with corner cube is theoretically and experimentally studied. We analyze the polarization variation in cavity and simulate the peak power, pulse energy and pulse width changed with the rotation angle of corner cube numerically. An experiment is made to verify the theoretical results. With rotating the angle of corner cube about the axis the variation range of peak power is 1.77 MW (from 10.36 to 8.59 MW), and that of pulse energy is 14.9 mJ (from 159.5 to 174.4 mJ), the fluctuation of pulse width is 2.95 ns. The experimental results agree with the theoretical analysis to the extent of variation rules. The most dynamic to static energy ratio of 62.5% is achieved.