Highly stable self-pulsed operation of an Er:Lu₂O₃ceramic laser at 2.7µm

Abstract

We report on the highly stable self-pulsed operation of a 2.74 µm Er:Lu 2 O 3 ceramic laser pumped by a wavelength locked narrow bandwidth 976 nm laser diode. The operating pulse repetition rate is continuously tunable from 126 kHz to 270 kHz depending on the pump power level. For 12.3 W of absorbed diode pump power, the Er:Lu 2 O 3 ceramic laser generates 820 mW of average output power at a 270 kHz repetition rate and with a pulse duration of 183 ns. The corresponding pulse-to-pulse amplitude fluctuation is estimated to be less than 0.7%. In the continues-wave (CW) mode of operation, the laser yields over 1.3 W of output power with a slope efficiency of 11.9% with respect to the 976 nm pump power.

Passive Q-switching of ∼2.7 µm Er:Lu2O3ceramic laser with a semiconductor saturable absorber mirror

“…19) At room temperature (RT), CW output powers of ∼1.3 and ∼2 W were obtained from Er:Lu 2 O 3 and Er:Y 2 O 3 ceramic lasers, respectively. 20,21) Stable pulses with ∼41 ns duration and ∼0.3 mJ energy were realized from an acoustooptically Q-switched Er:Y 2 O 3 ceramic laser at RT, which turn out to offer the highest peak power and the shortest pulse width achieved from diode-pumped Q-switched lasers at ∼2.7 µm. 22) The superiority of sesquioxides in Q-switched operation arises from their great energy storage capacity.…”