Stefano Dell'acqua

High-brightness 2.4-W continuous-wave Nd:GdVO4 laser at 670 nm.

We report on a diode-pumped 1.3-microm Nd:GdVO4 cw laser, intracavity doubled for highly efficient generation of red light. We obtained as much as 2.4 W of power at 670 nm (corresponding to 26% optical-to-optical efficiency) in a nearly TEM00 mode and with small amplitude noise. To the best of our knowledge, these results represent the highest performance at this wavelength for cw solid-state lasers.

1.5 Watt passively Q-switched diode-pumped cw Nd:YAG laser

Abstract A medium-power all-solid-state diode-pumped cw Nd:YAG laser, passively Q -switched employing Cr 4+ :YAG as saturable absorber, has been developed. Optimum coupling operation at the 1064 nm working wavelength resulted in 100 μJ, 36 ns, nearly diffraction limited pulses at 15 kHz repetition frequency, with 1.5 W average power output. We discuss the characterisation of the passive Q -switching elements and the laser operation.

High-repetition-rate Q-switched diode-pumped Nd:YAG laser at 1.444 μm

A diode-pumped Q-switched Nd:YAG laser that operates at the eye-safe 1444 nm wavelength has been developed. When pumped by a 10-W fiber-coupled array at 808 nm, it generated 1 W in cw operation and 560 mW at 20-kHz repetition rate with active Q-switching. Design issues such as thermal lensing characterization and beam quality are discussed.

Medium-power diode-pumped Nd:BaY2F8 laser.

We report what is to our knowledge the first Nd:BaY2F8 (Nd:BaYF) laser pumped with a multiwatt fiber-coupled diode array tuned at approximately 804 nm. As much as 2.4 W were obtained with 6.2 W of absorbed pump power, showing efficient operation (51% slope efficiency), excellent beam quality (M2=1.1), and weak thermal lensing. Small intracavity losses (<1%) were measured, indicating both reduced thermally induced aberrations and good optical quality of the laser crystal.

High performance Cr4+:YAG Q-switched CW diode pumped ND:YAG laser

This paper reports the operation of a Cr4+:YAG Q-switched CW diode laser pumped Nd:YAG at 1064nm. The laser performances resulted in 167 μ J, 21ns pulses at 10kHz, and 1.67W power output. When intracavity polarized, stable amplitude (fluctuations <±1%), TEM00, 153 μ J pulses were generated allowing 50% SHG in KTP.

Diode-pumped cw Nd:CaSGG laser

Neodymium doped germanates with a garnet structure, such as Nd:Ca3Sc2Ge3O12 (Nd:CaSGG [l]), are promising laser materials for diode-pumping.