E. Heumann

All-solid-state continuous-wave frequency-doubled Nd:YAG-BiBO laser with 2.8-W output power at 473 nm.

We report on a diode-pumped Nd:YAG laser with 4.6 W of linear polarized continuous-wave (cw) output power on the 4F3/2 --> 4I9/2 transitions at 946 nm. Three different crystals, cut for critical type I phase matching at room temperature, are used for the intracavity frequency doubling of the laser: 10-mm-long LiBaO5 (LBO), an 8-mm-long beta-BaB2O4 (BBO), and a 10.4-mm-long BiB3O6 (BiBO) grown by FEE GmbH. Up to 2.8 W of cw output power in the blue spectral range at 473 nm has been achieved with the BiBO crystal (2.1 W with BBO and 1.5 W with LBO).

High-power continuous-wave upconversion fiber laser at room temperature.

We report cw laser emission of a Pr, Yb-doped ZrF(4)-BaF(2)-LaF(3)-AlF(3)-NaF fiber in the red spectral region. Laser emission was achieved on the transition P(0)(3)?F(2)(3)(lambda(L)=635 nm) with a Ti:sapphire pump laser tuned to lambda(p)=850 nm . A maximum output power of P(out)=675 mW was obtained at an incident pump power of P(in)=3.37 W . The output power was increased to P(out)=1020 mW when pumping with P(in)=5.51 W was provided by two Ti:sapphire lasers. A photon avalanche process was found to contribute strongly to the population of the upper laser level.

Diode pumping of a continuous-wave Pr 3+ -doped LiYF 4 laser

We report, for the first time to our knowledge, diode-pumped cw laser oscillation of Pr3+:LiYF4 in the red spectral range. The pump power is provided by a GaN laser diode emitting a maximum output power of 25 mW at a wavelength of approximately 442 nm. The Pr3+ laser emits 1.8 mW of output power at a 639.7-nm wavelength. Threshold pump power and slope efficiency in a nonoptimized setup are determined to be 5.5 mW and 24%, respectively.

Efficient Continuous Wave-laser emission of Pr3+-doped fluorides at room temperature

We report, to our knowledge for the first time, Continuous Wave (CW) laser emission at room temperature of Pr:LiYF4 (Pr.YLF) at six wavelengths: 522, 545, 607, 639.5, 720 and 907.4 nm. The pump source was an argon-ion laser tuned to a wavelength of ⋋ = 457.9 nm. The maximum output powers at 522 nm (3Pi →3H5) and 639.5 nm (3P0 →3F2) were 144 and 266 mW, respectively. We also observed CW laser action of Pr:GdLiF4 (Pr: GLF) at λ = 639 nm and of Pr:KYF4 (Pr: KYF) at λ = 642.5 nm.

Power scaling of semiconductor laser pumped Praseodymium-lasers

We report on efficient lasing of Pr-doped fluoride materials with cw output powers up to 600 mW in the visible spectral range. Praseodymium doped LiYF(4) and LiLuF(4) crystals were pumped either by an intracavity frequency doubled optically pumped semiconductor laser with output powers up to 1.6 W and nearly diffraction limited beam quality or by a multimode GaN-laser diode with an output power of about 370 mW. Furthermore, intracavity frequency doubling of the red Pr-laser radiation to 320 nm reaching output powers of more than 360 mW with a conversion efficiency of 61% and an optical-to-optical efficiency of 22% are presented.

Semiconductor-laser-pumped high-power upconversion laser

A high-power optically pumped semiconductor laser operating around 970 nm has been used as a pumping source for an upconversion laser based on an Er3+ doped LiLuF4 crystal. Nearly 0.5 W of continuous wave (cw) output power and 0.8 W peak power at a 50% pump duty cycle could be achieved at a wavelength of 552 nm. This represents the highest output power from a room temperature upconversion laser ever reported. Laser threshold and slope efficiency were measured to be below 100 mW of absorbed pump power and 30%, respectively. This experiment could be an important step along the route to realizing a compact and efficient upconversion laser emitting in the Watt level power regime.

Efficient visible laser emission of GaN laser diode pumped Pr-doped fluoride scheelite crystals

In the present work we report on the growth, spectroscopy and laser results of diode pumped Pr-doped LiYF(4), LiLuF(4) and LiGdF(4) fluoride, scheelite-type structure crystals. We measured the polarisation dependent absorption and emission properties as well as the decay time of the (3)P(0) level. Exploiting the (3)P(2) absorption around 444 nm, we obtained efficient laser emission under GaN laser diode pumping on several transitions from the green to the near infrared wavelength range.

Visible laser emission of solid state pumped LiLuF(4):Pr(3+).

In this work we investigate visible transitions of Pr in the crystal Pr:LiLuF4. In particular we will report on the growth, emission and absorption spectroscopy as well as laser action at four different wavelengths. Findlay-Clay and Caird analysis have been carried out in order to characterise the cavity and the crystal quality. To the best of our knowledge the reported slope efficiencies are the highest reached for a Pr-based laser.

Green up‐conversion laser emission in Er‐doped crystals at room temperature

We report room‐temperature pulsed up‐conversion laser oscillation in Er‐doped LiYF4 and KYF4 at 551 and 562 nm, respectively. In both crystals laser oscillation is observed on the 4S3/2‐4I15/2 ground state transition. Excitation was provided by a tunable flashlamp‐pumped Ti:sapphire laser in the spectral region around 810 nm. Additional pumping with a continuous wave krypton ion laser at 647 nm was beneficial to both lasers. Laser action has also been observed in Er‐doped Y3Al5O12 on the same transition.

Continuous-wave ultraviolet generation at 320 nm by intracavity frequency doubling of red-emitting Praseodymium lasers

We describe a new approach for the generation of coherent ultraviolet radiation. Continuous-wave ultraviolet light at 320 nm has been obtained by intracavity frequency doubling of red-emitting Praseodymium lasers. Lasing at the 640-nm fundamental wavelength in Pr:LiYF(4) and Pr:BaY(2)F(8) was realized by employing an optically pumped semiconductor laser at 480 nm as pump source.Using LiB(3)O(5) as nonlinear medium, ~19 mW of ultraviolet radiation with ~9% optical efficiency with respect to absorbed power was reached for both laser crystals; the visible-to-ultraviolet conversion efficiency was 26% and 35% for Pr:LiYF(4) and Pr:BaY(2)F(8), respectively.