Comparative study of pulsed laser diode end-pumped thulium-doped 2-µm Q-switched lasers

We report pulsed laser diode(LD)end-pumped acoustic Q-switched Tm:YAG laser,Tm:LuAG laser,and Tm:LuYAG laser and the physical properties and spectra of Tm:YAG,Tm:LuAG,and Tm:LuYAG are analyzed.The Tm:LuYAG laser is pumped by 785-nm and 788-nm pulses separately,and is compared with Tm:YAG laser.Different output energy values and output wavelengths of Tm:LuAYG lasers pumped by LDs with different wavelengths are obtained and compared with each other.When the repetition frequency is 100 Hz,the pulsed Tm:YAG laser has single pulse energy of 15.9 mJ,pulse width of 126.7 ns,and the center wavelength of 2013.36 nm,and the pulsed Tm:LuAG laser possesses single pulse energy of 11.8 mJ,pulse width of 252.4 ns,and the center wavelength of 2023.65 nm,and the pulsed Tm:LuYAG laser output energy values are 12.32 mJ and 12.25 mJ with the slope efficiencies of 12.5%and 11.85%,the center wavelengths of 2017.89 nm and 2027.11 nm,respectively,while the pump sources are 785-nm and 788-nm pulsed LDs,respectively.