Alexander P. Savikin

Electronic mechanism for refractive-index changes in intensively pumped Yb:YAG laser crystals

Refractive-index changes accompanying changes in population of electronic levels of Yb3+ ions in a Yb:YAG laser disk under intense diode and laser pumping have been studied by use of both a highly sensitive polarization interferometer and transient grating testing at 633 nm. The electronic change of the index that is due to excitation of the Yb3+ ions (which have different polarizability of ground state 2F7/2 and excited level 2F5/2) is strongly predominant over the thermal component. The polarizability differences are deltap (1.9 +/- 0.8) x 10(-26) and (1.95 +/- 0.25) x 10(-26) cm3 as measured at 633 nm in interferometric and transient grating experiments, respectively.

Electronic changes of refractive index in intensively pumped Nd:YAG laser crystals

Refractive index changes accompanying changes in population of electron levels of Nd/sup 3+/ ions in a Nd:YAG laser crystal under intensive diode and laser pumping have been studied using a highly sensitive polarization interferometer. An electronic change of the index due to population of the /sup 4/F/sub 3/2/ level is measured to be high (comparable with the thermal component) in the crystal under QCW diode-stack pumping (at 808 nm). The electronic component increased dramatically under pumping by an additional laser (at 266 nm) due to population of a higher-lying level /sup 2/F(2)/sub 5/2/. Analytical estimation reveals a predominating contribution of the well-allowed 4f-5d inter-shell transitions in polarizability of the excited levels /sup 4/F/sub 3/2/ and /sup 2/F(2)/sub 5/2/ both at a testing wavelength of 633 nm and at a wavelength of the strongest laser transition 1064.2 nm.

Mechanisms of refractive index changes in intensively pumped Yb-doped laser crystals

Mechanisms of refractive index changes in intensively pumped Yb-doped crystals (Yb:YAG and Yb:KYW) were studied using both a polarization interferometer and the transient grating method. The electronic component strongly predominated over thermal index changes.

Continuous-wave and pulsed diode-pumped solid-state lasers with reciprocal dynamic holographic cavity

In this report, we present laser systems with the dynamic holographic cavity based on cw diode pumped Nd:YVO/sub 4/ crystals and repetitively pulsed diode pumped Nd:YAG crystals. The spatial and temporal characteristics of the generated laser beams were also studied experimentally.

A novel solution of a high-average-power Nd:YAG laser with cavity completed by dynamic holographic gratings

In this paper, self-starting laser with a cavity completed by dynamic holographic gratings was presented. And optimization of their architecture for generation of high average power beams with good quality was done. A similar scheme is studied also by use of two Nd:YAG crystals under intensive side-pumping by quasicontinuous wave diode stacks (at 808 nm). Self-starting oscillations for Nd:YAG crystals was investigated by the diode-pumped Nd:YAG rods and slabs.

Corrections to "Electronic changes of refractive index in intensively pumped Nd:YAG laser crystals"

In the above-named article [ibid., vol. 39, pp. 910?918, July 2003], Fig. 10 was incorrectly represented. The correct version appears here.