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.