50-mJ,Q-switched, 2.09-microm holmium laser resonantly pumped by a diode-pumped 1.9-microm thulium laser

We report >50-mJ Q-switched energy output from a 2.09-microm Ho:YAG oscillator, resonantly pumped at 1.9-microm by a diode-pumped Tm:YLF laser. We demonstrate a Q-switched-to-normal-mode extraction efficiency of 100% at an output energy of 30 mJ and over 64% at the 50-mJ output level. Operating at 50 mJ (60 Hz) of output, a pulse width of 14 ns is achieved from the holmium oscillator, which corresponds to approximately 3.6 MW of peak power. At the 50-mJ output level, a beam-propagation factor M2 approximately 1.2 is achieved.     

5-W repetitively Q-switched Er:LuAG laser resonantly pumped by an erbium fiber laser

We report a high-average-power, near-diffraction-limited Er:LuAG laser generating 5 W of power at 1.648 microm in either cw or repetitively Q-switched operation. When the laser is Q switched at 9 kHz, we measure 0.52 mJ/pulse. The laser is end pumped by a 20-W erbium fiber laser and achieves >30% optical conversion efficiency and >40% incident slope efficiency. This is, to our knowledge, the highest performance (average power and conversion efficiency) obtained from a bulk solid-state erbium laser.