Experimental study of the pulse energy of pulsed LD-pumped acousto-optically Q-switched Tm:YAG lasers

We study a pulsed LD-pumped high-energy acousto-optically (AO) Q-switched Tm:YAG laser. The output pulse energy is mainly influenced by the output energy at free running and the energy-extraction efficiency under Q-switching operation. The output energy at free running can be improved by optimizing the parameters of the pump source, laser cavity, and laser medium. We show that, in order to avoid the insufficiency or waste of the population inversion and obtain higher energy-extraction efficiency, a proper pumping width and opening time of the Q switch can be found.     

Simulation of laser dynamics and active Q-switching in Tm,Ho : YAG and Tm : YAG lasers

 We developed a detailed rate equation model to study laser dynamics and active Q-switching in Tm,Ho: YAG and Tm:YAG lasers. The simulation results agreed well with published experimental data, as well as provided new insights for optimizing pulse generation. Received: 7 March 1996/Accepted: 28 May 1996     

Extraction efficiency and thermal lensing in Tm: YAG lasers

We model and compare with experiment the threshold, extraction efficiency and temperature effects in Tm:YAG lasers. In particular, we are concerned with high pump powers where lasing can cease abruptly. We simulate the pump depletion equation with the forward and reverse lasing equations combined with the CW rate equations which include cross-relaxation. The resonator is single-pass, end-pumped Fabry-Perot. Consequently, the equations must be solved numerically with a shooter. Our simulation of these equations gives the z-dependence of the intensities, of the populations and of the heat source. Heating is created by nonradiative decay from the two upper manifolds and by the cross-relaxation energy deficit. This leads to thermal lensing as a function of incident pump power which causes lasing shut-off as the resonator becomes unstable. Our simulations for the slope efficiency, threshold and laser shut-off agree with experiment. Additionally, we show that for pump powers in the range of 15–20 W the core temperature rise is about 40 K and the thermal focal length is in the range 5–6 cm.     

Diode-pumped Tm: YAG solid-state lasers with indirect and direct manifold pumping

We study the continuous-wave (cw) characteristics of both two-manifold and three-manifold Tm: YAG laser pumped at _p 1.8 µm or _p = 0.785 µm and lasing at ₁ = 2.02 µm. The three-manifold rate equations are adiabatically reduced to their two-manifold form. For each pumping scheme, the steady-state rate equations are combined with the cw differential equations for the forward- and reverse-lasing fields and the pump-depletion differential equation. These three coupled cw differential equations are solved analytically. This gives the linear flux-conservation law between the input pump and the laser output, the minimum crystal length, and optimal output couplings. We show that the major difference between these two pumping schemes is due to the different pump effective absorption cross sections and not the two-for-one cross relaxation. Our example shows that the minimum intensity threshold and optimal crystal length are smaller for pumping at _tp = 0.785 µm than pumping at _p 1.8 µm.     

LD抽运Cr,Tm,Ho:YAG微片激光器单纵模运转特性的研究

研究了LD抽运的单纵模Cr,Tm,Ho:YAG微片激光器,激光器厚度为1mm,在用波长785nm的LD进行端面抽运时,激光器阈值为1060mW,单纵模激光最大输出功率为31mW. 对激光器输出功率随温度变化特性进行了研究,验证了CTH:YAG晶体的温度敏感性. 还研究了激光器的温度调谐特性,实验测得激光器的温度调谐系数为1.4GHz/℃.     

A comparative study on diode-pumped single-frequency Tm:YAG and Tm:GdVO<Subscript>4</Subscript> lasers

In this paper, we present experimental results concerning on the laser characteristics of Tm:YAG laser and Tm: GdVO₄ laser. At room temperature, the maximum output power of Tm:YAG laser and Tm:GdVO₄ laser is 210 and 145 mW, respectively. High efficiency can be achieved for both lasers at room temperature. Nevertheless, compared with Tm:GdVO₄ laser, Tm:YAG laser can operate on single frequency with high power easily. As much as 60 mW of 2013.9 nm single-longitudinal-mode (SLM) laser was achieved for Tm:YAG laser. For Tm:GdVO₄ laser 51 mW of 1919.7 nm SLM laser was achieved. The SLM Tm:YAG laser is better for using as a seed laser for coherent wind measurements and differential absorption LIDAR systems.     

Diode-pumped Tm:LuAG laser at room temperature

The lasing characteristics of Tm：LuAG at room temperature are reported. The maximum output power at 2.023-μm wavelength is 4.91 W and the slope efficiency is 25.39%. The mode matching between pump mode and laser mode is optimized by changing the pump beam waist radius and its location. Different output couplers are used to realize the optimal laser output. The relationship between operation temperature and output power is also discussed.     

Diode-pumped Q-switched Tm:LuAG ring laser operation at room temperature

2-μm lasers with high pulse energy and long pulse width of hundreds of nanoseconds are needed urgently in the accurate wind velocity lidar systems. This paper presented the acoustic-optical Q-switched Tm:LuAG laser performance in a pulsed-laser-diode end-pumping figure-eight ring resonator structure. Pulse energy and pulse width are investigated with the increasing of the incident pump energy at different repetition rate operation. Maximum energy of 3.3 mJ with the pulse width of 199 ns and 1.8 mJ with pulse width of 293 ns are obtained at the repetition rate of 20 and 50 Hz, respectively. Under Q-switched operation, the peak output wavelength is 2.022 μm at all time, and the beam quality factors are lower than 2 times diffraction-limited measured by a knife-edge traveling method.     

Crystal growth, spectroscopic and laser properties of Tm:LuAG crystal

Tm:Lu₃Al₅O₁₂ (Tm:LuAG) crystal was grown by the Czochralski method. The segregation coefficient was measured by Inductively Coupled Plasma Atomic Emission Spectrometer. The cell parameters were analyzed with X-ray powder diffraction experiments. The absorption and fluorescence spectra of Tm:LuAG crystal at room temperature were investigated. With a 20 W fiber-coupled diode laser as pump source, the continuous-wave (CW) laser action of Tm:LuAG crystal was demonstrated. The maximum output power at 2020 nm was obtained to be 3.04 W, and the slope efficiency was 25.3%.     

High-power diode-end-pumped Tm：YAP and Tm：YLF slab lasers

Diode-end-pumped continuous-wave(CW) Tm:YAP and Tm:YLF slab lasers are demonstrated. The a-cut Tm:YAP and Tm:YLF slabs with doping concentrations of 4 at.-% and 3.5 at.-%,respectively,are pumped by fast-axis collimated laser diodes at room temperature. The maximum CW output powers of 72 and 50.2 W are obtained from Tm:YAP and Tm:YLF,respectively,while the pump power is 220 W,corresponding to the slope efficiencies of 37.9% and 26.6%,respectively.     

A Diode-Pumped Actively Q-Switched and Injection-Seeded Tm:LuAG Laser at Room Temperature

We elaborate a diode-end-pumped actively Q-switched injection-seeded Tm:LuAG laser. To achieve power scaling with good beam quality, we construct a more flexible laser with longer cavity accommodated strongly aberrated thermal lens in a Tm:LuAG laser and took special care in designing the laser resonator. Under Q-switched operation, we achieve a maximum output energy of 2.6 mJ with a pulse width of 318.2 ns at a pulse repetition frequency of 50 Hz. To control the spectral, temporal, and phase characteristics of the Tm:LuAG laser, the ring laser is injected by a seed laser, which provides a 50 mW single longitudinal-mode laser output at a wavelength of 2,022.6 nm. We achieve an output energy of 1.8 mJ with a pulse width of 293.0 ns after employing the injection seed.     

High-efficiency composite Tm:YAG laser

A high-efficiency continuous-wave Tm:YAG laser end-diode pumped at room temperature is presented in this letter. The highest output power reaches 6.37 W when the incident pump power is 18.9 W. The optical conversion efficiency is 33.7% and the slope efficiency is 42.8%. The wavelength of the output laser is shifted to the short wavelength with an increase in the transmission of the output couplers. At a fixed cavity length, the composite Tm:YAG shows its dominance for its higher efficiency and higher quantum efficiency compared with the noncomposite Tm:YAG.     

LD泵浦单频种籽激光器及其线宽的测试

研究了 L D泵浦的单频种籽激光器。以 Nd:YAG和 Nd:YL F晶体为工作介质 ,采用微片腔的谐振腔形式 ,获得了 1.0 6μm和 1.0 5 3μm的单频激光输出 ,其输出功率分别为 90 m W和 10 m W。采用光纤延迟自零差拍法测量了单频固体激光的线宽 ,其线宽为 30 0 k Hz。     

Yb:YAG and Nd:YAG edge-pumped slab lasers

Experimental demonstrations of two edge-pumped zigzag slab lasers are presented. The Nd:YAG slab laser generated 127 W of multimode output power with 300W of pump power. Preliminary results with a Yb:YAG slab produced 46 W of output power with 315W of pump power. The edge-pumped slab design permits symmetric conduction cooling and efficient pump absorption and accepts large-numerical-aperture pump sources.     

LD-pumped actively Q-switched Tm,Ho:YLF laser at room temperature

We have investigated acoustic-optical Q-switched Tm,Ho:YLF laser end-pumped by a laser-diode. At room temperature, a 2.067 μm wavelength pulsed output is realized. Average output power, single pulse energy and pulse-width are measured at different incident pump powers and pulse repetition frequencies. When the incident pump power is 2.8 W, a maximum average output power of 189 mW is obtained at the repetition frequency of 9 kHz, and this corresponds to an optical conversion efficiency of 6.8%. The maximum single pulse energy of 65μJ, the shortest pulse-width with full-width at half-maximum (FWHM) of 138 ns and the maximum peak power of 470 W are obtained at the pulse repetition frequency of 1 kHz.     

Light storage protocols in Tm:YAG

We present two quantum memory protocols for solids: a stopped light approach based on spectral hole burning and a storage in an atomic frequency comb. These procedures are well adapted to the rare-earth ion doped crystals. We carefully clarify the critical steps of both. In one case, we show that the slowing-down due to hole-burning is sufficient to produce a complete mapping of field into the atomic system. On the other side, we explain the storage and retrieval mechanism of the Atomic Frequency Comb protocol. These two critical stages of the protocols are implemented experimentally in Tm³⁺-doped yttrium-aluminum-garnet crystal.     

End-Pumped Tm:YAG Ceramic Slab Lasers

Lasers from a Tm：YAG slab is end-pumped by continuous-wave output of the Tm：YAG ceramic ceramic am~e reported for the t~rst time to our best knowledge. The Tm：YAG ceramic a laser diode with central wavelength 792nm. At room temperature, the maximum power is 4.5 W, and the sloping efficiency is obtained to be 20.5%. The laser spectrum is centered at 2015nm.     

角抽运Yb:YAG激光器

报道了一种高功率准三能级激光器角抽运方法，抽运光从板条激光器结构中的板条工作介质的角注入，综合考虑抽运吸收、抽运亮度、晶体的掺杂浓度以及晶体尺寸等因素，进行了角抽运复合Yb:YAG激光器设计，实验上获得了最大连续输出功率400W, 斜效率28%的输出，实验结果充分证明了角抽运原理的正确性和应用于高功率激光器方面的可行性. 关键词： Yb:YAG 角抽运 复合晶体