Using a femtosecond Ti:Sapphire laser, micro-tracks of material damage were written into Yb:YAG crystals. Waveguiding was achieved in a channel between pairs of tracks with guiding losses of 1.3 dB/cm at a wavelength of 1063 nm, due to a stress induced change of the refractive index. Pumped at a wavelength of 941 nm, highly efficient laser oscillation in a Yb:YAG channel waveguide at a wavelength of 1030 nm was demonstrated. An output power of 0.8 W at 1.2 W of launched pump power was achieved, resulting in a record slope efficiency of 75%.

No abstract

This paper summarizes our recent results on crystalline waveguides and waveguide lasers fabricated by the femtosecond-laser writing technique. Highly efficient waveguide lasers emitting in the near infrared spectral range based on ytterbium and neodymium doped Y 3 Al 5 O 12 with slope efficiencies above 70% and continuous wave output powers of more than 5 W were demonstrated. Furthermore, pulsed laser operation of passively Q-switched Yb:YAG and Nd:YAG wavequide lasers was achieved by incorporating the saturable absorber Cr 4+ :YAG in a monolithic setup. Based on fs-laser written curved structures in Yb:YAG, efficient curved waveguide lasers could be demonstrated. Also, waveguide lasers in the visible spectral range were investigated. We achieved laser emission in the green, orange, red and deep-red spectral region and could demonstrate output powers of more than 1 W with waveguides based on praseodymium doped materials. Additionally, switchable and dual wavelength operation between the orange and red laser emission was achieved. By utilizing the nonlinear crystal KTiOPO 4 as substrate material for fs-laser inscription, nonlinear waveguides were realized. With these devices, efficient second harmonic generation into the blue and green spectral range was achieved.

Straight and s-curve Yb(7%):YAG waveguides have been fabricated with the femtosecond laser writing technique. By employing a novel writing scheme an increase of the refractive index change could be achieved in comparison to waveguides written with the standard procedure. Straight waveguides, fabricated with this scheme, enabled highly efficient Ti:sapphire laser pumped waveguide lasers with slope efficiencies of 79% and output powers of more than 1 W. With slope efficiencies from 50% to 60% for the curved waveguide lasers with radii of curvature of R ≥ 20 mm the possibility of fs-laser written complex optical devices is demonstrated.

No abstract