X. M. Duan

Continuous-wave and Q-switched operation of a resonantly pumped Ho:YAlO3 laser.

We demonstrated continuous-wave (CW) and Q-switched operation of a room-temperature Ho:YAlO(3) laser that is resonantly end-pumped by a diode-pumped Tm:YLF laser at 1.91 microm. The CW Ho:YAlO(3) laser generated 5.5 W of linearly polarized (EII c ) output at 2118 nm with beam quality factor of M(2) approximately 1.1 for an incident pump power of 13.8 W, corresponding to optical-to-optical conversion efficiency of 40%. Up to 1- mJ energy per pulse at pulse repetition frequency (PRF) of 5 kHz, and the maximum average power of 5.3-W with FWHM pulse duration of 30.5 ns at 20 kHz were achieved in Q-switched mode.

High efficient actively Q-switched Ho:LuAG laser

We present the room temperature Q-switched performances of a Ho:LuAG laser operated at 2.1 microm. At the repetition rate of 10 kHz, the maximum average output power of 9.9 W with a slope efficiency of 69.9% relative to absorbed pump power was obtained in Ho:LuAG laser. Also, the minimum pulse width of 33.0 ns was obtained, corresponding to the peak power was 30.0 kW.

7.3 W of single-frequency output power at 2.09 μm from an Ho:YAG monolithic nonplanar ring laser

Single-frequency output power of 7.3 W at 2.09 mum from a monolithic Ho:YAG nonplanar ring oscillator (NPRO) is demonstrated. Resonantly pumped by a Tm-doped fiber laser at 1.91 mum, the Ho:YAG NPRO produces 71% of slope efficiency with respect to absorbed pump power and nearly diffraction-limited output with a beam quality parameter of M(2) approximately 1.1.

103 W in-band dual-end-pumped Ho:YAG laser

An efficient 2 μm in-band pumped Ho:YAG laser was demonstrated. The resonator involves two Ho:YAG crystals, each of which was dual-end-pumped by two orthogonally polarized diode-pumped Tm:YLF lasers. The maximum continuous wave output power of 103 W was achieved, corresponding to a slope efficiency of 67.8% with respect to the incident pump power and an optical-to-optical conversion efficiency of 63.5%. Under Q-switched mode, we obtained 101 W laser output at 30 kHz, corresponding to a slope efficiency of 66.2%. The beam quality or M2 factor was found to be less than 2.

Compact diode end-pumped c-cut Tm,Ho:YAlO3 laser

Cryogenic temperature operation of a c-cut Tm(5%),Ho(0.3%):YAlO3 laser end-pumping by a fiber-coupled laser-diode is reported. A 2.55 W incident pump power is used to generate 160 mW of laser output, representing a 7.1% optical-to-optical conversion efficiency respect to the incident pump power. In the experiment, three wavelengths—2.04, 2.10, and 2.13 µm oscillation have been observed simultaneously, which is agreement with the inherent a-axis polarization fluorescence spectra of Tm,Ho:YAlO3. Also single wavelength oscillation performance has been observed which is centered at 2.13 µm.

Continuous wave and AO Q-switch operation of a b-cut Tm,Ho:YAP laser with dual wavelengths pumped by a laser diode of 792 nm

Continuous wave (CW) and AO Q-switch operation of a b-cut Tm,Ho:YAP laser with dual wavelengths were reported in this paper. In the temperature of 77 K, the b-cut Tm,Ho:YAP crystal was double endpumped by a 7.21-W fiber-coupled laser diode (LD) at the center wavelength of 792 nm. A 1.17-W Q-switch output power was acquired at pulse repetition frequency (PRF) of 10 kHz, corresponding to an effective optical-optical conversion efficiency of 25.9% and an effective slope efficiency of 31.5%. The energy per pulse of 0.46 mJ in 100 ns was achieved at 2.5 kHz with the peak power of 4.6 kW.

Room temperature efficient actively Q-switched Ho:YAP laser.

We report on efficient actively Q-switched Ho:YAP laser double-pass pumped by a 1.91-microm laser. At room temperature, when the incident pump power was 20.9 W, a maximum average output power of 10.9 W at 2118 nm was obtained at the repetition rate of 10 kHz, and this corresponds to a conversion efficiency of 52.2% and a slope efficiency of 63.5%. Moreover, a maximum pulse energy of approximately 1.1 mJ and a minimum pulse width of 31 ns were achieved, with the peak power of 35.5 kW.

A 41-W ZnGeP 2 optical parametric oscillator pumped by a Q-switched Ho:YAG laser

We reported a high-power ZnGeP₂ (ZGP) optical parametric oscillator (OPO) pumped by a Q-switched Ho:YAG laser. The maximum output power of the ZGP OPO was 41.2 W at 107.0 W incident Ho pump power, corresponding to a slope efficiency of 44.6%. The ZGP OPO produced 16-ns mid-IR pulse laser in the 3.74-3.98 μm and 4.38-4.76 μm spectral regions simultaneously. The beam quality was measured to be M²<4.37. The continuous wave maximum average output power of the Ho:YAG laser was 128 W, corresponding to a slope efficiency of 65.8%.

High-power Cr 2+ :ZnS saturable absorber passively Q-switched Ho:YAG ceramic laser and its application to pumping of a mid-IR OPO

We used the Cr2+:ZnS as a saturable absorber to obtain a passively Q-switched Ho:YAG ceramic laser operating near 2.1 μm. The maximum average output power of 14.8 W and a shortest pulse width of 29 ns were obtained, and to our knowledge, this is the best report for the PQS Ho:YAG ceramic laser. A maximum energy per pulse of 0.6 mJ with a maximum pulse repetition frequency of 24.4 kHz was achieved, which corresponded to a peak power of 20 kW. We first used the PQS laser as the pump source of optical parametric oscillator to obtain the mid-infrared laser. A maximum average output power of 4.4 W was achieved from the ZnGeP2 parametric oscillator, corresponding to a slope efficiency of 49.5% with respect to the incident pump power.

Room temperature single-frequency output from a diode-pumped Tm,Ho:YAP laser

Single-frequency operation in the range of 2102.45-2102.54 nm and 2130.72-2130.82 nm is demonstrated from a Tm,Ho:YAP laser at room temperature. To our knowledge, this is the first time a room temperature single-frequency Tm,Ho:YAP laser of up to 72.6 mW at 2102.5 nm with Fabry-Perot etalons has been obtained. Regulating the elevation angle of the two etalons, 42.0 mW at 2130.8 nm was obtained. The single-longitudinal-mode laser can be used as a seed laser for coherent wind measurements and differential absorption lidar systems.