First demonstration of green and amber LED-pumped Nd:YAG laser

Abstract

For the first time, to the best of our knowledge, a green (520 nm) and amber (592 nm) light emitting diode-pumped Nd:YAG laser is reported. The laser oscillator is a stable semi-planar resonator with a total length of 140 mm. The green (amber) light emitting diode-pumped laser produced a 107 (52) µJ laser energy, at 2.6 (0.7) J electrical pump energy. The oscillator operated at a low repetition rate (about 0.1 Hz) in free-running mode, where the laser spikes were initiated about 210-280 µs after the leading edge of the pump pulse. Moreover, the transverse mode profiles of the resonator, pump absorption efficiency, and optical gain have been studied in some detail.

Study of the Spatiotemporal Behavior of LED-Pumped Ce:Nd:YAG Laser

“…where  is radiation frequency and the LED spectral power () E  , is defined by Eq. (1) [4]. We have calculated the absorption efficiency of Nd:YAG and Ce:Nd:YAG for some other LEDs with different peak emission wavelength p  and spectral characteristics.…”

“…The optical resonator is a low loss stable resonator [4][5][6]. Therefore, to achieve the laser oscillation and high resonator stability, the geometrical length of the resonator is chosen as low as possible to reduce the diffraction loss and resonator misalignment sensitivity.…”

“…Different LED spectrum from blue at 460 nm [2], to near infrared spectrum at 750 and 810 nm [3], [7], [9], have been used for the optical pumping of the solidstate active medium. Moreover, green and amber LEDs at 520 and 592 nm, respectively [4], have been applied for the laser pumping. In addition, the optical pump efficiency up to better than 20 percent was reported [7].…”

“…The geometrical configuration of the LED sources and the optical resonator are similar to Refs. [4]- [6]. The high absorption of pumping radiations by the active medium, and the presence of passive Q-switch, results in a nearly Gaussian mode profile.…”

“…Moreover, the absorption spectrum of Nd:YAG and Ce:Nd:YAG is used with emission spectral power of LEDs at 592 and 460 nm, respectively. In addition, the precise geometry of pumping configuration is used to obtain reliable results [4]. Figure 9 shows the result of numerical simulations.…”