Diode-pumped continuous wave and Q-switched operation of Nd:CaYAlO_4 crystal

Abstract

The continuous wave (CW) and passively Q-switched performances of Nd:CaYAlO(4) crystal with both a- and c-cut were demonstrated. The CW output powers of 1.15 W and 1.26 W were obtained under the pump power of 8.96 W with slope efficiencies of 15.2% and 16.8% for a- and c-cut samples, respectively. As a result, new dual-wavelength all-solid-state lasers at 1080 nm and 1081 nm were achieved with c-cut crystal. By using Cr(4+):YAG wafer as saturable absorber, we performed Q-switching experiments. The highest average output powers and shortest pulse widths were measured to be 0.798 W, 10.6 ns and 0.537 W, 9.6 ns for a- and c-cut samples, respectively.

Float zone growth and spectral properties of Cr,Nd:CaYAlO4 single crystals

“…The fluorescence spectrum and lifetime are similar to the previous studies [15,17].These results indicate that energy transfer from Cr 3+ to Nd 3+ occurs in the Cr,Nd:CaYAlO 4 single crystal.…”

Realization of a continuous-wave single-frequency tunable Nd:CYA laser

“…In addition, several intrinsic advantages of the Nd:CYA crystal make it suitable for being used to generate the 1.08 μm lasers. Firstly, its absorption peak falls just around 807 nm ( 4 I 9=2 → 4 F 5=2 2 F 9=2 ) [8] , which corresponds to the wavelength of the most mature laser diode (LD). Then, benefiting greatly from the disordered crystal structure [9,10] , the Nd:CYA crystal has large inhomogeneous absorption (full width at halfmaximum is 5 nm) and emission broadened spectra (full width at half-maximum is 20 nm).…”

“…Then, benefiting greatly from the disordered crystal structure [9,10] , the Nd:CYA crystal has large inhomogeneous absorption (full width at halfmaximum is 5 nm) and emission broadened spectra (full width at half-maximum is 20 nm). The spectral properties of the Nd:CYA crystal makes it a good candidate to attain tunable and ultrafast lasers [8] . Owing to these desirable characteristics, a large number of CW transverse electromagnetic (TEM 00 ) mode lasers and tunable Q-switched lasers based on the Nd:CYA crystal have been studied.…”

Efficient dual-wavelength diode-end-pumped laser with a diffusion-bonded Nd:YVO_4/Nd:GdVO_4 crystal

“…With a significant progress in the growth of laser materials, a series of disordered crystals has been extensively fabricated and identified to generally possess multiple fluorescent peaks with comparable spectral intensity. Thanks to this distinctive property, directly utilizing the Nd-or Yb-doped disordered crystals as the active media becomes one of the most promising tactics for constructing a dual-wavelength laser in the continuous-wave, Q-switched, as well as mode-locked operations [1][2][3][4][5]. Nevertheless, the critical issue for such a kind of light source to be practically used is the uncontrollable intensity ratio between each emission component.…”