Comparative study of pulsed laser diode end-pumped thulium-doped 2-μm Q-switched lasers*

Abstract

We report pulsed laser diode (LD) end-pumped acoustic Q-switched Tm:YAG laser, Tm:LuAG laser, and Tm:LuYAG laser and the physical properties and spectra of Tm:YAG, Tm:LuAG, and Tm:LuYAG are analyzed. The Tm:LuYAG laser is pumped by 785-nm and 788-nm pulses separately, and is compared with Tm:YAG laser. Different output energy values and output wavelengths of Tm:LuAYG lasers pumped by LDs with different wavelengths are obtained and compared with each other. When the repetition frequency is 100 Hz, the pulsed Tm:YAG laser has single pulse energy of 15.9 mJ, pulse width of 126.7 ns, and the center wavelength of 2013.36 nm, and the pulsed Tm:LuAG laser possesses single pulse energy of 11.8 mJ, pulse width of 252.4 ns, and the center wavelength of 2023.65 nm, and the pulsed Tm:LuYAG laser output energy values are 12.32 mJ and 12.25 mJ with the slope efficiencies of 12.5% and 11.85%, the center wavelengths of 2017.89 nm and 2027.11 nm, respectively, while the pump sources are 785-nm and 788-nm pulsed LDs, respectively.

Lateral characteristics improvements of DBR laser diode with tapered Bragg grating

“…Semiconductor laser diodes are widely used in medical, free-space communication, and detection due to their excellent properties. [1][2][3] However, with the development of technology, their outstanding lateral mode power outputs are required. Although the traditional narrow ridge lasers can possess the excellent lateral mode characteristics by narrowing the ridge width, the further enhancement of their output power values is limited.…”