Diode-pumped efficient Tm,Ho:GdVO<sub>4</sub>laser with near-diffraction limited beam quality

He, Wanjun; Yao, Baoquan; Ju, Youlun; Wang, Yuezhu

doi:10.1364/oe.14.011653

Cited by 38 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 16 publications

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“…Laser operations based on several hosts such as YAG, YLF and vanadates (YVO 4 and GdVO 4 ) etc. were reported [4][5][6][7]. Furthermore, the search for better Tm-host crystals is still in progress and recent studies show promising results with YAP single crystals [8,9].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Room-temperature cw and pulsed operation of a diode-end-pumped Tm:YAP laser

Cai

Kong

et al. 2007

Appl. Phys. B

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We report the continuous-wave and acousto-optical Q-switched operation of a diode-end-pumped Tm:YAP laser. Continuous-wave output power of 3.5 W at 1.99 µm was obtained under the absorbed pump power of 14 W. Under Qswitched laser operation, the average output power increased from 1.57 W to 2.0 W, with an absorbed pump power of 12.6 W, as the repetition rate increased from 1 kHz to 10 kHz. The maximum Q-switched pulse energy was 1.57 mJ with a repetition rate of 1 kHz. The minimum pulse width was measured to be about 80 ns, corresponding to a peak power of 19.6 kW.PACS 42.55.Rz; 42.55.Xi; 42.60.Gd IntroductionSolid-state lasers working at the 2-µm waveband are of great interest because of several favorable characteristics. Owing to the strong absorption by liquid water, the 2-µm laser is an ideal light source for bio-medical applications. The 2-µm laser can also be used for range finding, coherent laser lidar and atmospheric sensing since it is in the eye-safe spectral range. In addition, high-power 2-µm lasers are preferable as pump sources for optical parametric oscillators (OPOs) and optical parametric amplifiers (OPAs) in the mid-infrared region than 1-µm lasers since they provide higher quantum efficiency. Based on these considerations, solid-state lasers operating around the 2-µm waveband have been intensively investigated recently [1][2][3]. In order to obtain the 2-µm-waveband laser oscillation, the rare-earth-ion thulium (Tm 3+ ) and holmium (Ho 3+ ) doping materials, which work as quasi-three-level laser systems, are commonly used. However, due to the existence of reabsorption loss, the laser performance is sensitive to the change of temperature. For this, liquid-nitrogen cooling is often used to achieve a highefficiency laser output but this incurs great inconvenience in practical applications. In addition to the temperature of the laser system, the physical and chemical properties of the laser host can greatly affect the laser performance. Therefore, studu Fax: +86-571-87952437, E-mail: physyh@zju.edu.com ies of laser hosts for 2-µm lasers have also been intensively carried out. Laser operations based on several hosts such as YAG, YLF and vanadates (YVO 4 and GdVO 4 ) etc. were reported [4][5][6][7]. Furthermore, the search for better Tm-host crystals is still in progress and recent studies show promising results with YAP single crystals [8,9]. Laser emission from Tm:YAP crystal was first demonstrated with flash-lamp pumping [10] and then using Ti:sapphire laser pumping [11]. Currently, it has been demonstrated that diode pumping is the most efficient way for Tm:YAP laser pumping [12,13]. The Tm:YAP single crystal is attractive as active material for 2-µm lasers mainly due to its natural birefringence combined with good thermal and mechanical properties similar to those of the YAG crystal [8]. In addition, the emission cross section of thulium in the YAP crystal (5.5 × 10 −21 cm 2 ) is twice as high as that in the YAG crystal (2.2 × 10 −21 cm 2 ) [9]. Furthermore, it has been demonstrated tha...

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Room-temperature cw and pulsed operation of a diode-end-pumped Tm:YAP laser

Cai

Kong

et al. 2007

Appl. Phys. B

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“…This is harmful to the laser output because the heat not only influences population distribution which can reduce the energy storage, but also influences the refraction index distribution and induces end-face deformation of laser crystal. The expression of thermal length f th in the end-pumped solid-state laser is given as follows [9][10][11]: (12) where K c is the thermal conductivity, ω p is the pumping beam radius, ξ=(1-η p /2)+(η p /2)[F EUT +(1-F EUT )(1-2λ p /λ l )] is the fractional thermal loading, F EUT =(N 0 -N)/N 0 , N 0 is the total population number of the laser upper level without energy transfer upconversion, N is the total population number of the laser upper level with energy transfer upconversion, η α is the absorption coefficient, P in is the pump power, dn/dt is the temperature-dependent index change, α T is the thermal expansion coefficient, n is the refractive index of the Tm,Ho:YLF crystal, υ is the Poisson's ratio. In the general coaxal sphere cavity, the laser beam waist radius (ω 0 ) is given as follows:…”

Section: Theory Of Thermal Lensingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Investigation of thermal effects in a diode end-pumped Tm,Ho:YLF solid state laser

et al. 2010

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Thermal effects have been investigated in the laser diode end-pumped Tm,Ho:YLF solid state laser. Under the condition that the pump light and the output laser are Gaussian distributions, the continuous wave rate equations of the Tm,Ho:YLF laser are given which take into energy transfer upconversion and ground state reabsorption effects. The fractional thermal loading and thermal focal length are obtained for different pump powers by solving the steady state rate equations. The thermal focal length as a function of pump power is measured by the knife edge method experimentally. Furthermore, the experimental results are compared with the theoretical results, and it is found that the theoretical results agree well with the experimental results.

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“…In the past, the Tm,Ho co-doped laser systems have been largely investigated to achieve single wavelength or single frequency operation [5][6][7]. Also the Tm-Ho co-doped laser systems based on such as LuLF [8,9], GdVO 4 [10,11], and YAP [12][13][14][15][16] Figure 1 (online color at www.lphys.org) Experimental setup of the diode-end-pumped dual-rods Tm,Ho:YVO 4 laser. M1-M5 -mirrors cient χ (3) -materials for Raman lasers [20].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

High power diode-pumped continuous wave and Q-switch operation of Tm,Ho:YVO4 laser

Yao

Meng

et al. 2010

Laser Phys. Lett.

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High power diode-pumped continuous wave (CW) and Q-switch operation of Tm,Ho:YVO4 laser is reported. Using two Tm,Ho:YVO 4 rods in a single cavity, up to 20.2 W of CW output lasing at 2054.7 nm was obtained under cryogenic temperature of 77 K with an optical to optical conversion efficiency of 32.9%. For Q-switch operation, up to 19.4 W of output was obtained under 15 kHz pulse repetition frequency (PRF) with a minimum pulse width of 24.2 ns. In addition, different pulse repetition frequencies of Q-switch operation with 10.0 kHz, 12.5 kHz and 15.0 kHz were investigated comparatively. The beam radius for the Tm,Ho:YVO4 laser as a function of the distance from focusing lens at 15 W CW output power level

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Diode-pumped efficient Tm,Ho:GdVO₄laser with near-diffraction limited beam quality

Cited by 38 publications

References 16 publications

Room-temperature cw and pulsed operation of a diode-end-pumped Tm:YAP laser

Room-temperature cw and pulsed operation of a diode-end-pumped Tm:YAP laser

Investigation of thermal effects in a diode end-pumped Tm,Ho:YLF solid state laser

High power diode-pumped continuous wave and Q-switch operation of Tm,Ho:YVO4 laser

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Diode-pumped efficient Tm,Ho:GdVO4laser with near-diffraction limited beam quality

Cited by 38 publications

References 16 publications

Room-temperature cw and pulsed operation of a diode-end-pumped Tm:YAP laser

Room-temperature cw and pulsed operation of a diode-end-pumped Tm:YAP laser

Investigation of thermal effects in a diode end-pumped Tm,Ho:YLF solid state laser

High power diode-pumped continuous wave and Q-switch operation of Tm,Ho:YVO4 laser

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Diode-pumped efficient Tm,Ho:GdVO₄laser with near-diffraction limited beam quality