A diode-pumped, high gain, planar waveguide, Nd:Y3Al5O12 amplifier

Abstract

We report the use of a 5-mm-long planar Nd:yttrium aluminum garnet waveguide grown by liquid-phase epitaxy as an amplifier at 1.064 μm. In a double-pass configuration pumped by a 1.2 W diode laser, small signal gains of 686 (28 dB) have been observed and efficient power extraction demonstrated with output powers of up to 290 mW being obtained.

Power self-regulation in double-pass high-gain laser amplifiers

“…Fiber amplifiers are already widely studied in double-pass configurations [43][44][45][46][47][48][49][50][51][52] as are waveguide Er:LiNbO 3 53-55 and Nd:Y 3 Al 5 O 12 lasers. 56 Thus, no new technology is required for the employment of any of these lasers in noise limiting applications.…”

Hetero- and homoepitaxial Nd3+-doped LaF3 thin films grown by molecular beam epitaxy: A spectroscopic study

“…Two different orientations of the CaF 2 substrates, ͑111͒ and ͑110͒, have been considered for the heteroepitaxial structures. The CaF 2 (111) surface shows a hexagonal geometrical arrangement of the ions which could be, in principle, the most suitable for the growth of the hexagonal tysonite structure of LaF 3 CaF 2 (110) substrates show a technological advantage as ͑110͒ planes are perpendicular to the ͑111͒ cleavage planes. In this case, the end faces of the waveguiding systems can be obtained by cleavage rather than by a long and arduous cutting and polishing process.…”

“…Compact and efficient optical systems could thus be obtained using thin-film waveguides, and the light confinement achieved in planar and channel waveguides would also reduce the laser pumping threshold and increase the gain per unit pump power as compared to bulk materials. [1][2][3] For certain specific applications, fluoride materials have been shown to be more suitable laser host matrices than oxides, owing to their lower phonon frequencies, which reduce the nonradiative relaxation processes of the excited RE ions increasing the lifetime of the emitting levels. 4 Molecular beam epitaxy ͑MBE͒ is an ultra-high-vacuum thin-film growth technique, conventionally employed for semiconductor devices.…”

“…Hetero-and homoepitaxial Nd 3؉ -doped LaF 3 thin films grown by molecular beam epitaxy: A spectroscopic study F. Lahoz, a) E. Daran Hetero-and homoepitaxial Nd 3ϩ -doped LaF 3 thin films have been grown by molecular beam epitaxy. Two different orientations of CaF 2 substrates, ͑111͒ and ͑110͒, have been used for the heteroepitaxial structures.…”

Double-pass high-gain laser amplifiers

“…and Nd:Y 3 Al 5 O 12 have also been developed. 26 Nonwaveguide double-pass YAG laser amplifiers have been investigated for intersatellite communication 27 and gravitational wave detection, 28 and a double-pass Nd:YAG laser with a phase conjugate mirror has been demonstrated. 29 Some of the leading application areas for double-pass lasers involve semiconductor diode lasers.…”