波长锁定878.9nm激光二极管抽运内腔式YVO_4/BaWO_4连续波拉曼激光器

采用波长锁定878.9 nm激光二极管共振抽运复合Nd:YV04激光晶体,改善热效应的同时提高抽运吸收率,分别以YVO_4和BaWO_4晶体作为拉曼介质,实验和理论研究了晶体性能、谐振腔结构和稳定性对内腔分体式连续波拉曼激光器性能的影响.结果表明:由于内腔分体式拉曼激光器腔长较长,谐振腔稳定性对激光器性能影响较大,选择高增益的拉曼晶体,不仅可获得高拉曼转换效率,还能一定程度上减轻热效应.而平凹腔结构中输出镜的曲率半径越小,拉曼晶体中基频光的功率密度越大,腔的动态稳定区越宽,获得的拉曼激光输出功率更高.最终以30 mm的BaWO_4晶体作为拉曼介质,在抽运功率25.1 W时,获得了3.02 W的连续拉曼激光输出,光-光转换效率达到12%.

Continuous-wave intracavity YVO4/BaWO4 Raman laser pumped by a wavelength-locked 878.9 nm laser diode

In this paper, the composite Nd:YVO₄ laser crystal is in-band pumped by a wavelength-locked laser diode at 878.9 nm, with the purpose of reducing thermal effects and improving pump absorption simultaneously. By using the YVO₄ and BaWO₄ crystals as Raman media, the influences of crystal properties, resonator structure and stability on the performance of continuous-wave intracavity Raman laser are investigated experimentally and theoretically. The results show that the resonator stability greatly affects laser performance due to the long cavity length of intracavity Raman laser. By choosing the Raman medium with high Raman gain, we can not only obtain higher Raman conversion efficiency, but also reduce the thermal effect to a certain extent. Furthermore, the smaller the curvature radius of the output mirror in the plano-concave cavity structure, the greater the power density of the fundamental laser in the Raman crystal is and the wider the dynamic stability region of the resonator, and hence the higher output power of the Raman laser can be achieved. Finally, by using 30-mm BaWO₄ crystal as Raman medium, a highest Raman output of 3.02 W is obtained at a pump power of 25.1 W, corresponding to a diode-to-Stokes optical conversion efficiency of 12%.