W. Liang

Diode-pumped continuous-wave Nd:YLF laser at 1313 nm

We present an efficiency Nd:LiYF4 (Nd:YLF) laser operating at 1313 nm pumped directly into the emitting level 4F3/2. At the incident pump power of 10.3 W, as high as 3.1 W of continuous-wave output power at 1313 nm is achieved. The slope efficiency with respect to the incident pump power was 36.1%. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first demonstration of such a laser system. Comparative results obtained for the pump with diode laser at 806 nm, into the highly absorbing 4F5/2 level, are given in order to prove the advantages of the 880 nm wavelength pumping.

Efficient continuouswave laser at 560 nm by intracavity frequency summation of fundamental and first-stokes wavelengths in a Nd:YVO4-BaWO4 Raman laser

We report for the first time an efficient CW laser emission at 560 nm by sum-frequency mixing of the fundamental and first-Stokes fields generated within an Nd:YVO4-BaWO4 Raman laser. Intracavity sumfrequency mixing with LiB3O5 (LBO) nonlinear crystal yielded 1.12 W of visible yellow-green emission; the output power stability over 4 h is better than 3.3%. The laser beam quality M2 factors are 1.84 and 2.43 in both horizontal and vertical dimensions respectively.

All-solid-state CW frequency-doubling Nd:LuVO4/KTP laser with 2.3 W output power at 545 nm

Efficient and compact green-yellow laser output at 545 nm is generated by intracavity frequency doubling of a continuous-wave (CW) diode-pumped Nd:LuVO4 laser at 1089 nm under the condition of suppressing the higher gain transition near 1066 nm. With 18.7 W of diode pump power and the frequency-doubling crystal KTiOPO4(KTP), as high as 2.3 W of CW output power at 545 nm is achieved, corresponding to an optical-to-optical conversion efficiency of 12.3%; the output power stability over 4 h is better than 5.4%.

Diode-pumped CW Nd:YAG laser at 1116 nm based on the 4F3/2-4I11/2 transition

We describe the output performances of the 1356 nm 4F3/2-4I13/2 transition (generally used for a 1319 nm transition) in Nd:YAG under in-band pumping with diode laser at the 809 nm wavelength. An end-pumped Nd:YAG crystal yielded 1.02 W of continuous-wave (CW) output power for 18.2 W of incident pump power. Moreover, intracavity second-harmonic generation (SHG) has also been achieved with a power of 290 mW at 678 nm by using a LiB3O5 (LBO) nonlinear crystal. The red beam quality factor M2 was less than 1.37. The red power stability was less 3.2% in 4 h.

Quasi-three level laser based on diode-pumped Nd3+:YAlO3 crystal

We describe the output performances of the 930 nm 4F3/2 → 4I9/2 transition in Nd3+:YAlO3 (Nd:YAP) under in-band pumping with diode laser at the 803 nm wavelength. An end-pumped Nd:YAP crystal yielded 1.13 W of continuous-wave (CW) output power for 17.8 W of incident pump power. Moreover, intracavity second-harmonic generation has also been achieved with a power of 172 mW at 465 nm by using a LiB3O5 (LBO) nonlinear crystal. The blue beam quality factor M2 was less than 1.3. The blue power stability was less 3% in 60 min.

All-solid-state Nd:YAG-LBO yellow laser at 572 nm

We report for the first time a continuous-wave (CW) yellow laser emission by sum-frequency mixing in Nd:YAG crystal. Using type-I critical phase-matching LBO crystal, a yellow laser at 572 nm is obtained by 1444 and 946 nm intracavity sum-frequency mixing. The maximum laser output power of 178 mW is obtained when an incident pump laser of 18.2 W is used. At the output power level of 178 mW, the output stability is better than 4.2%.

Efficient intracavity frequency-doubled Nd:YLiF4-LiB3O6 red laser emission under diode pumping into the emitting level

We report for the first time (to our knowledge) an efficient compact red laser at 660.5 nm generation by intracavity frequency doubling of a continuous wave laser operation of a diode direct pumped Nd:YLiF4 (Nd:YLF) laser on the 4F3/2 → 4I13/2 transition at 1321 nm. A LiB3O6 (LBO) crystal, cut for critical type I phase matching at room temperature is used for second harmonic generation of the laser. At an absorbed pump power of 16.2 W, as high as 1.5 W of continuous wave output power at 660.5 nm is achieved with 10-mm-long LBO. The optical-to-optical conversion efficiency is up to 9.3%. Comparative results obtained for the pump with diode laser at 806 nm, into the highly-absorbing 4F5/2 level, are given in order to prove the advantages of the 880 nm wavelength pumping.

Diode-laser-pumped continuous-wave doubly linear resonator sum-frequency mixing red laser at 689 nm

We report for the first time a coherent red radiation at 689 nm by intracavity sum-frequency generation of the 1319- and 1444-nm laser-lines of two Nd:YAG lasers. Using type-II critical phase matching KTP crystal, 689-nm red laser was obtained by 1444- and 1319-nm intra-cavity sum-frequency mixing, and output power of 156 mW was obtained. At the output power level of 156 mW, the output power stability is better than 5.0% and laser beam quality M2 factor is 1.23.

Thermally-boosted pumping of Nd:LiYF4 using Ti:Sapphire laser

We report for the first time (to our knowledge) a 1053 nm Nd:LiYF4 (Nd:YLF) laser by directly pumping into the upper lasing level with a tunable Ti:sapphire laser. The results obtained for direct upper laser level pumping at 872 and 880 nm of Nd:YLF were compared with traditional 806 nm pump band excitation. Highly efficient 1053 nm continuous-wave (CW) laser emission under direct pumping at 880 nm in an 8 mm thick, 1.0 at % Nd:YLF crystal is obtained. The slope efficiency is improved from 39.1% for traditional pumping at 806 nm to 63.9% for direct pumping at 880 nm.

Diode-pumped continuous-wave Nd:YAP laser emitting at 1073 nm based on the 4F3/2-4I11/2 transition

We describe the output performances of the 1073 nm 4F3/2 → 4I11/2 transition (generally used for a 1064 nm transition) in Nd3+:YAlO3 (Nd:YAP) under in-band pumping with diode laser at the 803 nm wavelength. An end-pumped Nd:YAP crystal yielded 390 mW of continuous-wave (CW) output power for 17.8 W of incident pump power. Moreover, intracavity second-harmonic generation has also been achieved with a power of 38 mW at 536 nm by using a LiB3O5 (LBO) nonlinear crystal. The green beam quality factor M2 was less than 1.33. The blue power stability was less 3.5% in 4 h.