Efficient diode-pumped Tm : YALO(3) laser with a pump recycling scheme

By using a pump recycling configuration, the maximum power of 8.1 W in the wavelength range 1.935-1.938 mu m is generated by a 5-mm long Tm:YAlO3 (4 at. %) laser operating at 18 degrees C with a pump power of 24 W. The highest slope efficiency of 42% is attained, and the pump quantum efficiency is up to 100%. The Tm:YAlO3 laser is employed as a pumping source of singly-doped Ho(l%):GdVO4 laser operating at room temperature, in which continuous wave output power of greater than 0.2 W at 2.05 mu m is achieved with a slope efficiency of 9%.

Spectral characterization of transparent (Nd0.01Y0.94La0.05)(2)O-3 laser ceramics

The spectrum properties of transparent (Nd0.01Y0.94La0.05)(2)O-3 ceramics were investigated. It was found that all absorption bands of (Nd0.01Y0.94La0.05)(2)O-3 ceramics are broadened, of which the full width at half maximum of the peak centered at 804 nm is 8 nm and its absorption cross section is 1.02x10(-20) cm(2). The emission cross section of (Nd0.01Y0.94La0.05)(2)O-3 ceramics located at 1078 nm is 5.71x10(-20) cm(2) and its fluorescent lifetime is 0.214 ms, which are similar to those of 1.0 at. %Nd:Y2O3 ceramics. These indicate that (Nd0.01Y0.94La0.05)(2)O-3 transparent ceramics has excellent spectroscopic properties.

Yb：YAG透明陶瓷的制备和激光输出

制备了高质量的Yb：YAG透明陶瓷．Yb：YAG透明陶瓷的晶粒尺寸为10μm左右且分布均匀，晶界处和晶粒中没有杂质、气孔的存在．Yb：YAG样品中所有元素分布均匀，不同的晶粒间，晶粒和晶界间成分是一致的，没有出现成分的偏析．4mm厚样品的透过率为80％．LD泵浦获得了波长为1030nm，最大功率为268mW的连续激光输出．

Yb:YAP与Yb:YAG晶体光谱性能比较

应用中频感应提拉法生长出掺杂浓度为10 at.-%的Yb:YAG与Yb:YAP晶体，对比了室温下两种晶体的吸收和发射光谱特性。结果表明，Yb:YAG晶体比Yb:YAP晶体有更好的激光性能和低的阈值；同时对比发现，Yb:YAP晶体的吸收截面是Yb:YAG晶体的2.16倍，它容易实现LD泵；由于Yb:YAP晶体的各向异性，它有轴向效应明显，它可以产生偏振激光。

Fabrication and spectral properties of Nd3+-doped yttrium lanthanum oxide transparent ceramics

Transparent 1 at% Nd3+:Y1.9La0.1O3 ceramics were fabricated with nanopowders prepared by carbonate coprecipitation method. The powder compacts were sintered in H-2 atmosphere at 1550 degrees C for 30 h. The Nd3+:Y1.9La0.1O3 ceramics display uniform grains of about 50 mu m and high transparency. The highest transmittance of the ceramics reaches 67%. The strongest absorption peak is in the wavelength of 820 nm with absorption cross section of 2.48 x 10(-20) cm(2). The absorption is still high at LD wavelength 806 nm with absorption cross section of 1.78 x 10(-20) cm(2) and broad full width at half maximum (FWHM) of about 6.3 nm. The strongest emission peak was centered at 1078 nm with large stimulated emission cross section of 9.63 x 10(-20) cm(2) and broad FWHM of about 7.8 nm. The broad absorption and emission bandwidth of Nd3+:y(1.9)La(0.1)O(3) transparent ceramics are favorable to achieve the miniaturized LD pumping apparatus and ultrashort modelocked pulse laser output, respectively. (c) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

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-mu m laser. At room temperature, when the incident pump power was 20.9 W, a maximum average output power of 10.9W 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 similar to 1.1 mJ and a minimum pulse width of 31 ns were achieved, with the peak power of 35.5 kW. (C) 2009 Optical Society of America

Laser-induced damage threshold of ZrO2 thin films prepared at different oxygen partial pressures by electron-beam evaporation

ZrO2, films were deposited by electron-beam evaporation with the oxygen partial pressure varying from 3 X 10(-3) Pa to I I X 10(-3) Pa. The phase structure of the samples was characterized by x-ray diffraction (XRD). The thermal absorption of the films was measured by the surface thermal lensing technique. A spectrophotometer was employed to measure the refractive indices of the samples. The laser-induced damage threshold (LIDT) was assessed using a 1064, nm Nd: yttritium-aluminium-garnet pulsed laser at pulse width of 12 ns. The influence of oxygen partial pressure on the microstructure and LIDT of ZrO2 films was investigated. XRD data revealed that the films changed from polycrystalline to amorphous as the oxygen partial pressure increased. The variation of refractive index at 550 nm wavelength indicated that the packing density of the films decreased gradually with increasing oxygen partial pressure. The absorptance of the samples decreased monotonically from 125.2 to 84.5 ppm with increasing oxygen partial pressure. The damage threshold, values increased from 18.5 to 26.7 J/cm(2) for oxygen partial pressures varying from 3 X 10(-3) Pa to 9 X 10(-3) Pa, but decreased to 17.3 J/cm(2) in the case of I I X 10(-3) Pa. (C) 2005 American Vacuum Society.

Microstructure and laser-induced damage threshold of ZrO2 coatings dependence on annealing temperature

ZrO2 coatings were deposited on different substrates of Yb:YAG and fused silica by electron beam evaporation. After annealed for 12 h at 673 and 1073 K, respectively, weak absorption of coatings was measured by surface thermal lensing (STL) technique, and then laser-induced damage threshold (LIDT) was determined also. The crystalline phase of ZrO2 coatings and the size of the crystal grain were investigated by X-ray diffraction. It was found that microstructure of ZrO2 coatings was dependent on both annealing temperature and substrate structure, and coatings containing monoclinic phases had higher damage threshold than others. Due to the strong absorption of Yb:YAG, damage threshold of coatings on Yb:YAG was much less than that on fused silica. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Laser-induced damage threshold of ZrO2 thin films prepared at different oxygen partial pressures by electron-beam evaporation

ZrO2, films were deposited by electron-beam evaporation with the oxygen partial pressure varying from 3 X 10(-3) Pa to I I X 10(-3) Pa. The phase structure of the samples was characterized by x-ray diffraction (XRD). The thermal absorption of the films was measured by the surface thermal lensing technique. A spectrophotometer was employed to measure the refractive indices of the samples. The laser-induced damage threshold (LIDT) was assessed using a 1064, nm Nd: yttritium-aluminium-garnet pulsed laser at pulse width of 12 ns. The influence of oxygen partial pressure on the microstructure and LIDT of ZrO2 films was investigated. XRD data revealed that the films changed from polycrystalline to amorphous as the oxygen partial pressure increased. The variation of refractive index at 550 nm wavelength indicated that the packing density of the films decreased gradually with increasing oxygen partial pressure. The absorptance of the samples decreased monotonically from 125.2 to 84.5 ppm with increasing oxygen partial pressure. The damage threshold, values increased from 18.5 to 26.7 J/cm(2) for oxygen partial pressures varying from 3 X 10(-3) Pa to 9 X 10(-3) Pa, but decreased to 17.3 J/cm(2) in the case of I I X 10(-3) Pa. (C) 2005 American Vacuum Society.

Er3+-doped glass-polymer composite thin films fabricated using combinatorial pulsed laser deposition

Siloxane Polymer exhibits low loss in the 800-1500 nm range which varies between 0.01 and 0.66 dB cm1. It is for such low loss the material is one of the most promising candidates in the application of engineering passive and active optical devices [1, 2]. However, current polymer fabrication techniques do not provide a methodology which allows high structurally solubility of Er3+ ions in siloxane matrix. To address this problem, Yang et al.[3] demonstrated a channel waveguide amplifier with Nd 3+-complex doped polymer, whilst Wong and co-workers[4] employed Yb3+ and Er3+ co-doped polymer hosts for increasing the gain. In some recent research we demonstrated pulsed laser deposition of Er-doped tellurite glass thin films on siloxane polymer coated silica substrates[5]. Here an alternative methodology for multilayer polymer-glass composite thin films using Er3+ - Yb3+ co-doped phosphate modified tellurite (PT) glass and siloxane polymer is proposed by adopting combinatorial pulsed laser deposition (PLD). © 2011 IEEE.

420 fs pulses from an ultrafast laser inscribed waveguide laser utilizing a carbon nanotube saturable absorber

We report the generation of 420 fs pulses of 1.56 μm light from a mode-locked ultrafast laser inscribed Er-doped waveguide laser. Passive mode-locking was achieved using a carbon nanotube saturable absorber. © 2010 Optical Society of America.

High-power ultrafast solid-state laser using graphene based saturable absorber

We demonstrate a graphene based saturable absorber mode-locked Nd:YVO4 solid-state laser, generating ~14nJ pulses with ~1W average output power. This shows the potential for high-power pulse generation. © 2011 Optical Society of America.