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

Diode side pumped and acousto-optical (AO) Q-switched Tm, Ho, LuLiF laser at 2 μm wavelength obtained in a ring resonator is reported in this paper. The three LDAs were placed 120° apart around the laser rod of ?4 × 20 mm dimension. A ring resonator has been used for its At free run mode, four different output loss ouplers has been tried. When the output loss is 20%, 103 mJ per pulse at 1 Hz pulse repetition frequency has been obtained with the optical to optical energy conversion efficiency of 3.17%. At the Q-switched mode, the laser pulse energy is 30 mJ with the pulse width of 417 ns. The optical to optical energy conversion efficiency is 0.93%. The slope efficiency is 6.36 and 2.90% under the two running mode, respectively.     

Room-temperature Tm, Ho:LuLiF(4) laser with a novel quasi-end-pumping technique

A novel diode-pumped, efficient, quasi-end-pumping scheme that uses two lens ducts to achieve homogeneous pumping in a gain medium was proposed and evaluated. With this technique, room-temperature laser action at a pulse repetition frequency up to 20 Hz was demonstrated in 5%Tm, 0.5%Ho:LuLiF(4), which we grew by the Czochralski method. At 10 Hz a long-pulse laser output energy in excess of 24 mJ and a slope efficiency with respect to the incident pump energy of 10.7% were obtained.     

Passively Q-switched Tm,Ho:LuLiF4 laser with near constant pulse energy and duration

A compact diode-pumped passively Q-switched Tm,Ho:LuLiF₄ laser with a Cr:ZnS saturable absorber is demonstrated for the first time. The maximum average output power of 74 mW is achieved at the absorbed pump power of 1.5 W, and the threshold power is only 0.68 W. The laser operates at the wavelength of 2,055 nm and produces pulses with near constant duration of 1.2 μs and pulse energy of 13 μJ at the pulse repetition frequency from 1 to 5.2 kHz. The stable long-pulse laser can be used in laser lidar systems for accurate wind velocity measurements.     

125-mJ diode-pumped injection-seeded Ho:Tm:YLF laser

We describe a diode-pumped, room-temperature Ho:Tm:YLF power oscillator with an optical-to-optical efficiency of 0.03. A Q -switched output energy of as much as 125 mJ at 6 Hz with a pulse width of 170 ns was obtained. Single-frequency, nearly transform-limited operation of the laser was achieved by injection seeding. Laser performance as a function of laser rod temperature and pump intensity was also investigated. The high power and high beam quality of this laser make it well suited for use as a coherent wind lidar transmitter on a space platform.     

Room temperature diode-pumped Tm,Ho:YAP laser with double etalons

A diode end-pumped single-frequency Tm,Ho:YAP laser at room temperature was reported. We obtain a single frequency Tm,Ho:YAP laser of up to 31 mW with Fabry-Perot etalons in the cavity at 2130.8 nm. The optical conversion efficiency is 1.0% and the slope efficiency is 6.3%. The measured full width at half maximum (FWHM) is approximately 65 pm. The single-longitudinal-mode (SLM) laser can be used as a seed laser for coherent wind measurements and differential absorption LIDAR systems.     

Ho:YAG laser intracavity pumped by a diode-pumped Tm:YLF laser

We report a compact Ho:YAG laser that is intracavity pumped by a diode-pumped Tm:YLF laser. Both lasers exhibit pulse mode behavior. Operating both crystals at room temperature (25 degrees C), we obtained 1.6 W of average output at 2.09 microm from the Ho:YAG laser for 15.4 W of diode power incident upon the Tm:YLF rod and a slope efficiency of 21%.     

Passively Q-switched diode-pumped Tm,Ho:LuVO_4 laser with a black phosphorus saturable absorber

We presented a passively Q-switched(PQS) diode-pumped c-cut Tm, Ho:LuVO_4 laser with a black phosphorus saturable absorber for the first time.Under PQS mode, an average output power of 0.86 W and a peak power of 2.32 W were acquired from the Tm, Ho:LuVO_4 laser with the pump power of 14.55 W, corresponding to a pulse width of 2.89 μs,a pulse repetition rate of 71.84 kHz, and a pulse energy of about 6.70 μJ.     

Room temperature single-frequency output from a diode-pumped Tm,Ho:YAP laser

Single-frequency operation in the range of 2102.45-2102.54 nm and 2130.72-2130.82 nm is demonstrated from a Tm,Ho:YAP laser at room temperature. To our knowledge, this is the first time a room temperature single-frequency Tm,Ho:YAP laser of up to 72.6 mW at 2102.5 nm with Fabry-Perot etalons has been obtained. Regulating the elevation angle of the two etalons, 42.0 mW at 2130.8 nm was obtained. The single-longitudinal-mode laser can be used as a seed laser for coherent wind measurements and differential absorption lidar systems.     

2-W Ho:YAG laser intracavity pumped by a diode-pumped Tm:YAG laser

Efficient room-temperature operation of a Ho:YAG laser, intracavity pumped by a diode-bar-pumped Tm:YAG laser, is reported. At rod mount temperatures of 10 degrees C, for both the Tm:YAG and the Ho:YAG rods, we obtained 2.1 W of output at 2.097mum from the Ho:YAG laser for 9.2 W of diode power incident upon the Tm:YAG rod.     

Directly diode-pumped high-energy Ho:YAG oscillator

We report on the high-energy laser operation of an Ho:YAG oscillator resonantly pumped by a GaSb-based laser diode stack at 1.9 μm. The output energy was extracted from a compact plano-concave acousto-optically Q-switched resonator optimized for low repetition rates. Operating at 100 Hz, pulse energies exceeding 30 mJ at a wavelength of 2.09 μm were obtained. The corresponding pulse duration at the highest pump power was 100 ns, leading to a maximum peak power above 300 kW. Different pulse repetition rates and output coupling transmissions of the Ho:YAG resonator were studied. In addition, intracavity laser-induced damage threshold measurements are discussed.     

Lasing of diode-pumped c-cut Tm, Ho:YAlO3

We report on a diode-pumped Tm, Ho:YAlO₃ (c-cut) laser operating at 274 K. The maximum output power reaches 163 mW at an absorbed pump power of 2.3 W. A conversion efficiency from the absorbed pump power to laser output of 7.1% is demonstrated in Tm, Ho:YAlO₃, corresponding to a slope efficiency of 11.1%. The output center wavelength of Tm, Ho:YAlO₃ is 2102 nm with about a 2-nm FWHM. As far as we know, our work represents the first investigation of the laser performance of c-cut Tm, Ho:YAlO₃ at 274 K.     

Room temperature single-frequency output at 2118 nm from a diode-pumped Tm,Ho:YAP laser

A diode end-pumped single-frequency Tm, Ho:YAP laser at room temperature was reported. We demonstrated a single-frequency Tm, Ho:YAP laser at 2118.09 nm wavelength with output power up to 57 mW using two Fabry-Perot intracavity etalons. The optical conversion efficiency is 2.0% and the slope efficiency is 12.7%. The measured full width at half maximum linewidth was <7.5 pm limited by the resolution of the scanning Fabry-Perot etalon used to make the measurement. The wavelength was demonstrated to be stable to about 2 pm over 40 s time periods limited by the temperature stability of the laser. The single-longitudinal-mode (SLM) laser can be used as a seed laser for coherent wind measurements and differential absorption LIDAR systems.     

High-power diode-pumped Tm:YLF laser

A high-power, continuous-wave 3.5% Tm³⁺ doped LiYF₄ (Tm:YLF) laser has been developed. Using two Tm:YLF rods in a single cavity, 55 W of laser output at 1910 nm was obtained with a slope efficiency of 49%. The M² factor was found to be <3. With a single Tm:YLF rod, a maximum laser power of 30 W was obtained with a slope efficiency of 50%. The laser was tuned to the peak absorption wavelength of Ho:YAG of 1907.5 nm by an intracavity quartz etalon with an output power loss < 1 W. PACS 42.55.-f; 42.55.Xi; 42.60.Pk     

Passive mode-locking of a diode-pumped Tm:GdLiF4 laser

We propose an optical near-field assisted sputtering method for repairing scratches on the surface of polycrystalline ceramics in a self-assembling manner. An Al₂O₃ source was sputtered on substrates with laser radiation of wavelength 473 nm. The average depth of the scratched grooves on polycrystalline Al₂O₃ ceramic substrate decreased from 3.2 nm to 0.79 nm. Using a Hough transform, we also confirmed the selective repair of scratches.     

Fiber-coupled diode end-pumped Q-switched Tm,Ho:YLiF4 laser

At liquid-nitrogen temperature, at 10-kHz pulse repetition rate, Q-switched 36-ns pulses with average output power of 4 W at 2.05 μm and 4.5-W continuous wave output power with a total optical-optical conversion efficiency of 30%, were achieved from a 6% Tm, 0.5% Ho:YLiF4 laser. This laser was endpumped by a fiber-coupled laser diode emitting up to 15 W around 792 nm. The 1-m-long optical fiber carrying the pump radiation has a core diameter of 700 μm with a numerical aperture of 0.22.     

Performance evaluation of ZnGeP2 optical parametric oscillator pumped by a Q-switched Tm,Ho:GdVO4 laser

A doubly resonant ZnGeP2 （ZGP） optical parametric oscillator （OPO） pumped by a novel Tm,Ho：GdVO4 laser was demonstrated. Cryogenic Tin（5 at.-%）, Ho（0.5 at.-%）：GdVO4 laser with high pulse repetition frequency （PRF） of 10 kHz at 2.05 μm was employed as pumping source of ZGP OPO. The 15-mm-long ZGP crystal, 55° cut for I-type phase-matching with low absorption coefficient less than 0.05 cm^-1 at 2 μm, was placed in a piano-piano cavity with resonator length of 30 mm. The ZGP OPO generated a total combined output power of 1.2 W at 3.75 and 4.52 μm under pumping power of 5.3 W, corresponding to slope efficiency of 40% from incident 2μm laser power to midinfrared （Mid-IR） output. A widely tunable range from 3.0 to 6.5 μm was achieved by changing the crystal angle only 3.5°.     

High repetition rate Tm：Ho：LuLiF master-oscillator and Tm-doped fiber power-amplifier system

A high repetition rate Tm:Ho:LuLiF master-oscillator and polarization-maintaining (PM) Tm-doped fiber power-amplifier system is presented.A 11.3-kHz,0.4-nm line width,0.89-W Tm:Ho:LuLiF seed laser is developed.Using a two-stage PM Tm-doped fiber power amplifier system,32.4-W output power is obtained with 0.4-nm line width at a central wavelength of 2058.5 nm,corresponding to 0.66-W seed laser.The laser spectrum and pulse profile are measured.     

High-power diode-pumped Tm:YLF slab laser

A 2% Tm³⁺-doped LiYF₄(Tm:YLF) slab is double-end-pumped by two laser diode stacks. The pumped volume has a rectangular cross section. The Tm:YLF laser produced 148 W of continuos-wave output at 1912 nm in a beam with M _x ²≈199 and M _y ²≈1.7 for 554 W of incident pump power. The slope efficiency with respect to the incident pump power was 32.6%, and the optical-to-optical efficiency was 26.7%.     

LiGdF4:Tm3+: spectroscopy and diode-pumped laser experiments

A novel LiGdF₄ crystal doped with Thulium ions has been grown using the Czochralski technique. Three samples with doping concentrations of 0.3 at.%, 8 at.%, and 12 at.% have been extensively spectroscopically analyzed. We also performed room-temperature preliminary laser experiments, pumping the samples with a laser diode at 792 nm obtaining 53% as maximum slope efficiency with a maximum output power of 205 mW and a minimum lasing threshold of 22 mW. The laser emission spectrum in free running condition typically spans between 1990 and 2018 nm.