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.     

Diode-pumped single frequency Tm,Ho:YLF laser at room temperature

A diode-pumped single frequency Tm,Ho:YLF laser operating at an eye-safe wavelength of 2 μm has been developed. Temperature of the laser crystal was controlled at room temperature with a thermoelectric cooler. The line-width narrowing elements were two solid uncoated fused silica etalons whose thicknesses were 1 and 0.1 mm, respectively. Continuous wave single frequency power of 113 mW was obtained.     

激光二极管端面抽运Tm,Ho:YLF激光器双稳特性研究

报道了波长为792 nm激光二极管端面抽运Tm,Ho:YLF连续激光器的双稳输出特性.激光晶体温度为283 K时,双稳区的宽度为100 mW,跃变点输出功率的跃变量为15 mW.实验上还研究了晶体温度对2 μm激光双稳特性的影响,当晶体温度从283 K升高到298 K时,双稳区的宽度由100 mW减小到60 mW,跃变点输出功率的跃变量由15 mW下降到6 mW.通过分析可知,Tm,Ho:YLF连续激光器的双稳输出是由能量转递上转换、激发态吸收以及激光下能级对2 μm输出激光再吸收共同作用的结果. 关键词： 端面抽运 Tm Ho:YLF晶体 连续输出 光学双稳     

End-pumped optical bistability Tm,Ho:YLF laser

We experimentally demonstrate strong optical bistability in a 2 μm continuous wave Tm,Ho:YLF laser with a bulk crystal. The laser is end-pumped by a 792 nm fiber-coupled laser diode. The bistable region is as wide as 1.6 W and the jump power at the turning point is as high as 82.5 mW when the temperature of the laser crystal is kept at 253 K. The influences of the cavity length and the transmission of the output coupler on the characteristics of optical bistability are obtained. The theoretical analysis shows that the bistable output in the Tm,Ho:YLF lasers comes from the combined effects of the nonlinear saturation of ground state reabsorption, the energy transfer upconversion, and the excited state absorption.     

激光二极管端面抽运室温Tm,Ho:YLF连续固体激光器

报道了激光二极管端面抽运Tm，Ho：YLF固体激光器的输出特性.室温下，选用不同透过率的输出耦合镜进行了实验研究，确定了最佳输出耦合镜透过率为2%. 利用小孔扫描的方法，得到了激光远场的光强分布，证明激光为基横模输出，并且给出了热焦距随抽运功率的变化关系.通过在激光谐振腔内插入两个固体Fabry-Perot标准具的方法，获得了2μm激光的单频输出，阈值功率为250mW，在抽运功率为2.8W时，单频输出功率为118mW.此单频激光器可用作激光振荡器和激光放大器的种子源. 关键词： 激光光学 激光二极管 Tm Ho:YLF固体激光器 单频     

Diode-pumped high-efficiency Tm:YLF laser at room temperature

High-efficiency continuous-wave (CW) Tm:YLF laser by the dual-end-pumping configuration is presented. Under the total input pump power of 24.0 W, the highest output power reaches 9.8 W in the wavelength range of 1910 - 1926 nm by use of 10% output coupling, corresponding to optical conversion efficiency of 40.9% and slope efficiency of 51.4%. The free-running laser spectrum of Tm:YLF is measured.     

Tunable CW Tm,Ho:YLF laser at 2

A tunable continuous wave (CW) low temperature operating Tm (6 at.-%),Ho (0.6 at.-%):YLF laser pumped by fiber-coupled diode laser is reported. The maximum output power is 4.16 W at 2073 nm by use of 30% output coupling, the slope efficiency is 33%. A tuning range from 2049 to 2081 nm is achieved with a birefringent filter (BF). The factors that contribute to the output power and tuning range are discussed.     

Single frequency optical bistability operation in end-pumped Tm,Ho:YLF lasers

Single-frequency bistability performances from a Tm,Ho:YLF laser with two Fabry?CPerot etalons near room temperature is reported. For the first time to our knowledge, the single-frequency bistability at 2.05???m is displayed in the laser operation with the bistable region width of 0?C580 mW and the jump power of 0?C78 mW, which can be tuned by regulating the length of the laser resonator. The maximum single frequency output power of 180 mW is obtained at the pump power of 2?W, and the laser frequency can be continuously tuned 1.25?GHz. The single frequency bistability laser can be used in laser lidar systems and all-optical switching systems.     

A compact high efficient diode-double-passing-pumped mid-IR Tm:YLF laser at room temperature

A new compact high efficient diode-double-passing-pumped Tm:YLF laser at room temperature is presented. Using a crystal of 3 mm × 3 mm × 12 mm 4% doping Tm:YLF and double-end-double-passing pumping cavity structure without complex optical splitter pumping system, 5.6 W CW 1907.6 nm laser is obtained at 26.2 W 792 nm pumping laser. The slope efficiency is as high as 37.8% and the spectrum width is 2 nm. The relationship between cavity length and output laser is also analyzed. Experiments verify that the highest energy and convertion efficiency can be reached by optimizing the oscillator cavity length. Finally, we used this Tm:YLF laser to pump Ho:YAG crystal at room temperature and achieved 1.65 W 2.1 μm output laser with slope efficiency 67%.     

Performance of a liquid-nitrogen-cooled CW Tm, Ho:YLF laser

A liquid-nitrogen-cooled Tm, Ho:YLF laser is constructed with a 10-mm-long Tm(6%) and Ho(0.5%) co-doped yttrium lithium fluoride crystal pumped by a laser diode operating at 792 nm. The laser outputpower is improved by cooling the Tm, Ho:YLF crystal from 300 to 77 K. When the crystal is kept at 77K, the laser threshold pump power is 230 mW, the slope efficiency is 27.4%, and the maximum optical-to-optical efficiency is 19.9%. At the same time, the relation between the input power and the output powerat different temperatures is obtained.     

Q-switched Ho:YAlO<Subscript>3</Subscript> laser pumped by Tm:YLF laser at room temperature

A Q-switched high efficient Ho:YAlO₃ (Ho:YAP) laser pumped by a diode-pumped Tm:YLF laser at room-temperature is realized. The maximum output energy reaches 1.58 mJ under the repetition frequency of 5 kHz, when the incident pump power is 15.6 W. The pulse width is 22 ns. The wavelength is 2118 nm when the transmission of output coupler is 30%. The beam quality factor is M ² ∼ 1.39 measured by the traveling knife-edge method.     

Room temperature 2 μm Tm,Ho : YLF laser

We present the results obtained with a Tm,Ho : YLF crystal, grown in the new crystals growth facility realized in the Dipartimento di Fisica of the Università di Pisa. The 2 μm laser performance has been studied for three different pump sources, a Ti : Sapphire, a diode—tuned at 792.7 nm—and a Co : MgF₂ laser, tuned at 1.682 μm.     

Single-frequency, Q-switched Ho:YAG laser at room temperature injection-seeded by two F-P etalons-restricted Tm, Ho:YAG laser

We demonstrated a 1.91 μm pumped, injection-seeded Q-switched Ho:YAG laser operating at room temperature. By inserting two Fabry-Perot etalons into the laser cavity, single-frequency Tm, Ho:YAG seed lasing was achieved at a wavelength of 2090.9 nm, with a typical output power of 60 mW. Single-frequency, nearly transform-limited Q-switched operation of the Ho:YAG laser was achieved by injection seeding. The output energy of the single-frequency Q-switched pulse is 7.6 mJ, with a pulse width of 132 ns and a repetition rate of 100 Hz. We measured the pulse spectrum, half-width of which was 3.5 MHz, by a heterodyne technique.     

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%.     

端面抽运Tm，Ho：YLF激光器双稳特性的理论分析与实验研究

报道了波长为792nm激光二极管端面抽运Tm,Ho：YLF连续激光器的双稳输出特性.在考虑能量传递上转换和基态对2μm激光重吸收的前提下,建立了Tm,Ho：YLF双稳激光器准三能级速率方程理论模型.通过对Tm,Ho：YLF激光器速率方程的求解,理论预见了Tm,Ho：YLF激光器双稳输出的特性,并分析了其产生的机理.进行了激光二极管端面抽运Tm,Ho：YLF激光器双稳输出的实验研究,当激光晶体温度为253K时,双稳区的宽度可达1.6W,跃变点输出功率的跃变量可达82.5mW.通过对比发现理论结果与实验结果比 关键词： 端面抽运 Tm Ho：YLF晶体 连续输出 光学双稳     

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.     

能量传递上转换对Tm，Ho:YLF激光器阈值的影响

根据激光二极管纵向抽运Tm，Ho：YLF激光器的能级跃迁和能量传递过程，在考虑能量传递上转换的情况下，建立了准三能级阈值速率方程，得出了激光器阈值的解析解.给出了阈值与激光器设计参数的关系，并分析了能量传递上转换对激光器设计参数的依赖关系.实验上得到了不同输出耦合透过率下的激光阈值，验证了理论的合理性. 关键词： 二极管抽运 Tm Ho：YLF晶体 能量传递上转换 速率方程 阈值     

Theoretical and experimental study of a single frequency Tm,Ho:YLF laser

We present a theoretical and experimental analysis of a diode-pumped single frequency Tm,Ho:YLF laser. A new model for a diode-pumped Tm,Ho:YLF quasi-three-level laser is described. The influence of energy-transfer up-conversion (ETU) and ground-state re-absorption (GSA) has been taken into account. When the incident pump power is 2.8 W, a maximum single frequency output power of 118 mW is obtained from the Tm,Ho:YLF laser at room temperature. The line narrowing elements used are two solid etalons. The single frequency laser can be used as a seed laser for either a larger oscillator or an amplifier. The theoretical results are in good agreement with experimental data.     

Diode-end-pumped CW and actively Q-switched Tm,Ho:YLF ring laser

This paper presents CW and acoustic-optical Q-switched Tm,Ho:YLF laser performance in a laser-diode end-pumping figure-eight ring resonator structure at 77 K. Under CW operation, different transmission of output couplers and different cavity length were used to achieve best characteristics of the laser. The maximum power of 1.85 W is achieved with the threshold of 2.09 W, slope efficiency of 28.14% and optical-to-optical efficiency of 20.3% on the condition of 1 m cavity length and 18% transmission. Under pump power of 4 W, laser characteristics under Q-switched operation with different pulse repeat frequency was investigated. Maximum energy of 5.86 mJ is achieved with pulse width of 171.2 ns, peak power of 34.2 kW and dynamic-static ratio about Q-switch laser of 0.62 at pulse repeat frequency 70 Hz.