Highly efficient Nd:YVO_4 laser by direct in-band diode pumping at 914 nm (original) (raw)
Optics Letters, 2008
We present for the first time a Nd: YVO 4 laser emitting at 1064 nm intracavity pumped at 912 nm by a Nd: GdVO 4 laser. We carried out a model to design the system properly, and laser performance was experimentally investigated. Intracavity sum-frequency mixing at 912 and 1064 nm was then realized in a BiBO crystal to reach the blue range. We obtained a cw output power of 155 mW at 491 nm with a pump laser diode emitting 20 W at 808 nm.
1.34-μm efficient laser emission in highly-doped Nd:YAG under 885-nm diode pumping
Optics Express, 2005
We report on 1.34-mm laser emission in Nd:YAG under diode pumping at 885 nm, directly into the 4 F 3/2 emitting level. 3.8 W of output power with 0.26 overall optical-to-optical efficiency was recorded from a 2.5at.% Nd:YAG single-crystal. Comparative results obtained by classical pumping at 809 nm, in the highly absorbing 4 F 5/2 level, are presented, showing the advantage of the direct pumping. The influence of lasing wavelength and Nd concentration on the thermal effects induced by optical pumping into the active component is discussed.
High-efficiency Nd:GdVO4 laser at 1341nm under 880nm diode laser pumping into the emitting level
Optics Communications, 2009
Highly efficient 1341 nm continuous-wave laser under 880 nm diode laser pumping in Nd:GdVO 4 crystal is reported. Comparative results obtained by the traditional pumping at 808 nm were presented, showing that the slope efficiency and the threshold with respect to the absorbed pump power under 880 nm pumping was 34.9% higher and 12.6% lower than those of 808 nm pumping. A high slope efficiency of 49.1% was achieved under 880 nm pumping, with an optical-to-optical conversion efficiency of 41.7%.
Applied Physics B, 2000
We report two kinds of compact and efficient diode-end-pumped TEM 00 lasers with output power > 25 W at ≈ 50 W of incident pump power. One laser consists of a single 0.3 at. % Nd:YVO 4 crystal in a V-type cavity, the other laser includes two 0.5 at. % Nd:YVO 4 crystals in a linear cavity. Experimental results show that lowering Nd 3+ concentration can be beneficial in extending the fracturelimited pump power but it also increases the sensitivity of the pump wavelength due to the overlapping efficiency.
In-band pumping of Nd-based solid-state lasers
Romanian Reports on Physics
The author is presenting output performances obtained from Nd-based laser materials that were in-band pumped directly into the 4 F 3/2 emitting level. Continuous-wave (cw) laser operation at 1.06 μm with slope efficiency of 0.79 in Nd:YAG and 0.80 in Nd:GdVO 4 and Nd:YVO 4 was realized using an end-pumping configuration and a tunable Ti:Sapphire laser around 0.88 μm as source of excitation. These slopes are very close to the limits of the investigated laser materials. Laser operation at 0.946 μm in Nd:YAG with slope efficiency as high as 0.68 was also demonstrated. The influence of an increased Nd concentration on the quantum efficiency of the 4 F 3/2 emitting level in Nd:YAG is discussed, and laser performances at 1.06 μm in highly-doped Nd laser are investigated. Laser emission at 1.3 μm was demonstrated for the first time in a highly-doped 2.5 at % Nd:YAG under pumping with diode lasers at 0.88 μm. First diode end-pumped at 0.88 μm Nd:GdVO 4 laser that generated 5.1 W of green at...
Pramana, 2002
The effect of Nd 3· concentration on the CW and Q-switched laser performances at 1064 nm from Nd : YVO 4 has been studied under diode laser pumping in identical laser configuration. The Nd 3· concentrations used were 1, 2 and 3 at. % in YVO 4 crystals. Under the CW operations we have compared the thermal lensing effect, slope efficiencies and also the beam quality at the fourth-order degeneracy configuration. Q-switching was done with the help of an acousto-optic modulator and we have compared the pulses obtained from Nd : YVO 4 laser with different doping concentration. It was found that the 1 at.%-doped crystal is the best, offering highest optical-to-optical conversion efficiency (55%), lowest fractional heat load (24%), highest pulse energy (80 µJ) and shortest pulse width (20 ns). It was also found that there was not much difference in performances for 2 and 3 at. %doped crystals both in CW and Q-switched configurations.
Optics Letters, 2009
We demonstrate what we believe to be the highest efficiency obtained to date in a transversely diodepumped Nd 3+ : YLiF 4 slab laser operating at 1053 nm. The compact 11-cm-long laser cavity configuration is based on total internal reflection of the intracavity beam at the pump facet of the gain crystal to improve the overlap with the pump radiation. Multimode operation with 9.5 W of output power and an efficiency of 45% is obtained for 21 W of pump power in a single-pass configuration. Using a second pass through the crystal and a new mode-controlling technique, the beam quality is improved to the diffraction limit with 6.9 W of output power and 33% of optical-to-optical efficiency.
Efficient 671-nm pump source by intracavity doubling of a diode-pumped Nd:YVO4 laser
Journal of The Optical Society of America B-optical Physics, 2002
A diode-pumped, intracavity-doubled Nd:YVO 4 laser, generating as much as 760 mW of power at 671 nm, which was used to efficiently pump a Cr:LiSAF laser, is described. A slope efficiency of Ϸ39% with maximum continuous-wave output power of Ͼ180 mW was achieved with this system. Experiments in tunability and generation of ultrashort pulses are also reported.
Comparison of cw laser performance of Nd:KGW, Nd:YAG, Nd:BEL, and Nd:YVO 4 under laser diode pumping
Applied Physics B: Lasers and Optics, 1998
We have compared the cw laser performance of Nd:KGW, Nd:YAG, Nd:BEL, and Nd:YVO 4 crystals under low-power laser diode end-pumping. Output power dependencies on the pump power and the pump wavelength of these diode-pumped solid state lasers were investigated. The high Nd 3+ concentration of the Nd:KGW samples used in our measurements as well as up-conversion and exited-state absorption processes in Nd:KGW cause the reduced laser output power dependence on the pump wavelength which was experimentally observed. At pump levels up to 270 mW a slope efficiency of η sl ≈ 46% was reached for the Nd:KGW laser. Nd:KGW microchip laser operation with a slope efficiency of η sl ≈ 50% was demonstrated. Thermal lensing in Nd:KGW at pump powers up to 3 W was measured.