Chaoyu Li

10 W mid-IR optical parametric oscillator pumped by a passively Q-switched Ho:YAG ceramic laser

We report on a ZnGeP2 (ZGP) optical parametric oscillator (OPO) pumped by a Cr2+:ZnS saturable absorbed passively Q-switched (PQS) Ho:YAG ceramic laser. The maximum output power of the ZGP OPO was 10 W at a 27.4 W incident PQS Ho:YAG ceramic laser, corresponding to a slope efficiency of 41.3% with respect to the incident pump power. The minimum mid-IR pulse width of 21 ns in 3.8 and 4.6 μm was obtained from the ZGP OPO. The beam quality was measured to be M 2 < 3.22.

Repetition-frequency-controllable double Q-switched Ho:LuAG laser with acousto-optic modulator and Cr2+:ZnS saturable absorber

A repetition-frequency-controllable double Q-switched (DQS) Ho:LuAG laser at 2098.34 nm with acousto-optic modulator (AOM) and Cr2+:ZnS saturable absorber (SA) was investigated. The maximum output power of 5.3 W was obtained at the AOM repetition frequency (RF) of 3.72 kHz, corresponding to the slope efficiency of 29.8%. The largest pulse energy of 2.8 mJ with the shortest pulse width of 54.2 ns was observed at the AOM RF of 2.64 kHz. Compared with the passively Q-switched Ho: LuAG laser, the DQS Ho: LuAG laser could generate shorter pulse width and larger pulse energy, and its RF could be controlled by the AOM RF