Diode Pumped High Peak Power Quasi Q-Switched and Passively Q-Switched Nd:YVO₄Lasers at 1064 nm and 532 nm using Cr:YAG and KTP crystals

Diode end-pumped solid-state lasers have the potential to yield high quality laser beams with high efficiency for laser range finding and warning receiver applications as well as day and night military laser designation systems. In this paper we presents theoretical calculations using Advanced Dynamics Professional LASCAD software and experimental studies for a high power pigtailed fiber diode laser module of 8 W operating at 808 nm with a specially designed high efficiency cooling system, end pumped high-efficiency Nd:YVO4 laser of 3 × 3 × 10 mm rod and overall cavity length of 44 mm. To the best of our knowledge a self Q-switching effects was generated in Nd:YVO4 laser by changing the cavity dimensions and the position of the intracavity KTP crystal at certain regime of operation for the first time, in which the cavity length is reduced to be 30 mm and the distance between Nd:YVO4 rod and KTP crystal is only 1mm. Self Q-switched laser pulse at 532 nm with high peak power of 96 W, pulse width of 88 ns at FWHM and repetition rate of 400 kHz was achieved. Experimental studies of a passive Q-switched Nd:YVO4 laser using Cr:YAG crystal with three different transmissions of 30%, 40% and 70% were investigated. Passive Q-switched laser pulse at 1064 nm and narrow line width of less than 1.5 nm with highest peak power of nearly 18 kW, short pulse width of less than 4 ns at FWHM and higher repetition rate of 45 kHz using Cr:YAG with transmission of 30% was achieved for the first time.

Pump pulse characteristics of quasi-continuous-wave diode-side-pumped Nd:YAG laser

The influence of pumping laser pulse on the property of quasi-continuous-wave(QCW)diode-side-pumped Nd:YAG laser is investigated theoretically and experimentally.Under remaining a fixed duty cycle,the average output power increases,and the corresponding thermal focal length shorten with the increase of the pump pulse duration,which attributes to the decrease of the ratio of pulse buildup time to the pulse duration.At a pump power of 146 W,the laser output power changes from 65.1 W to 81.2 W when the pulse duration is adjusted from 150μs to 1000μs,confirming a significant enhancement of 24.7%.A laser rate equation model incorporating the amplified spontaneous emission is also utilized and numerically solved,and the simulated results agree well with the experimental data.

Design and performance of a composite Tm:YAG laser pumped by VBG-stabilized narrow-band laser diode

A 2-μm composite Tm：YAG laser pumped with a narrow-band laser diode was presented. The temperature distribution and thermal lens in the Tm：YAG were numerically simulated by a finite element method and the results were used to design the special cavity, in order to achieve a high efficiency and stable output. With a 25-W incident pump power, we obtained a maximum output power of 11 W at 2018.5 nm, corresponding to a slope efficiency of 51.3% and an optical-to-optical efficiency of 44.5%, respectively. The beam quality was measured to be M_x^2= 1.8 and M_y^2= 1.6.

High-power and high optical conversion efficiency diode-end-pumped laser with multi-segmented Nd：YAG/Nd：YVO-4

A novel flat-flat resonator consisting of two crystals（Nd：YAG ＋ Nd：YVO4） is established for power scaling in a diode-end-pumped solid-state laser. We systematically compare laser characteristics between multi-segmented（Nd：YAG ＋ Nd：YVO4） and conventional composite（Nd：YAG ＋ Nd：YAG） crystals to demonstrate the feasibility of spectral line matching for output power scale-up in end-pumped lasers. A maximum continuous-wave output power of 79.2 W is reported at 1064 nm, with Mx2= 4.82, My2= 5.48, and a pumping power of 136 W in the multi-segmented crystals（Nd：YAG ＋ Nd：YVO4）. Compared to conventional composite crystals（Nd：YAG ＋ Nd：YAG）, the optical-optical conversion efficiency of multi-segmented crystals（Nd：YAG ＋ Nd：YVO4） from 808 nm to 1064 nm is enhanced from 30% to 58.8%,while the laser output sensitivity as affected by the diode-laser temperature is reduced from 55% to 9%.

Simulation of Diode-Pumped Q-Switched Nd:YAG Laser Generating Eye-Safe Signal in IOPO Environment

Numerical simulation of diode-pumped Q-switched Nd:YAG laser leading to the generation of eye-safe signal in singly resonant Intracavity Optical Parametric Oscillator (IOPO) is presented. Starting from rate equations, the time dependent laser equations have been solved numerically, whereas the space-dependent OPO equations analytically. Our results show that 1.4 J diode laser (810 nm) pulse with 200 msec width, delivers 30 mJ Nd:YAG laser (1064 nm) pulse with 5 n-second width. This Nd:YAG laser further generates 9 mJ eye safe signal (1570 nm) pulse with 2.5 n-second width.

Diode-pumped Doubly Q-switched Nd∶YAG Laser with Acoustic-optical Modulator and Cr^(4+)∶YAG Saturable Absorber

A diode-pumped doubly Q-switched Nd∶YAG laser operating at 1064nm both with an acoustic-optical(AO)modulator and Cr4+∶YAG saturable absorber in the cavity is demonstrated.At the incident pump power of 11.8W the laser can generate stable 8ns pulse with the peak power of 23.6kW at a 10kHz repetition rate.The pulse temporal profile is more symmetric and shorter compared with that of passively Q-switched lasers with only AO-active and Cr4+∶YAG.A reasonable analysis is developed to explain the experimental results theoretically.

Experimental Study of Nd^(3+):KGd(WO_(4))_(2) Laser Pumped by Laser Diode

This paper presents the cw output characteristics of Nd^(3+):KGd(WO_(4))_(2)(KGW)laser crystal with different NcP+concentration grown in our laboratory.The laser output at 1.067 μm of KGW crystal(3×3×6 mm)was obtained to be 68.9 mW and the slope efficiency reached 28.8%when pumped by laser diode of power 305 mW at 807 nm.

Diode Pumped Monolithic Unidirectional Nonplanar Single-Frequency Ring Laser

Diode pumped monolithic nonplanar ring laser has been developed, yielding single frequency laser and has the advantages of compactness, reliability and high efficiency. Its principles are given in detail and a monolithic nonplanar ring laser is designed. As a result, a laser of hundreds milliwatts cw single frequency output was built up, placed in a magnetic field and pumped by LD. The optical conversion efficiency was more than 15% and the slope efficiency more than 30%. The laser beam had a good quality, with M 2 about 1 2.

Efficient and high-power laser-diode single-end-pumped Nd：YVO4 continuous wave laser at 1342nm

A compact, efficient and high-power laser diode （LD） single-end-pumped Nd：YVO4 laser with continuous-wave emission at 1342 nm is reported. With a single crystal single-end-pumped by fibre-coupled LD array, an output power of 7.36W is obtained from the laser cavity of concave-convex shape, corresponding to an optical-to-optical efficiency of 32.8%. The laser is operated in TEM00 mode with small rms amplitude noise of 0.3%. The influences of the Nd concentration, transmissivity of the output mirror and the cavity length on the output power have been studied experimentally.

First-Stokes Wavelengths at 1175.8 and 1177.1 nm Generated in a Diode End-Pumped Nd:YVO_4/LuVO_4 Raman Laser

A diode end-pumped acousto-optic Q-switched Nd:YVO_4/LuVO_4 Raman laser is demonstrated. Both YVO_4 and LuVO_4 can work as Raman gain, and slightly different active vibration modes of both crystals can result in different first-Stokes wavelengths. The output characteristic as the Raman competition between YVO_4 and LuVO_4 crystals for the laser systems with both shared cavity and coupled cavity is experimentally investigated.For the shared cavity, simultaneous Raman conversion in both YVO_4 and LuVO_4 crystals is achieved with dualwavelength emission at 1175.8 and 1177.1 nm. The maximum output power of 1.03 W and the conversion efficiency of 10.3% are obtained. The 0.84 W single first Stokes wavelength at 1177.1 nm with LuVO_4 Raman conversion is achieved with the coupled cavity. The results show that the coupled cavity with short Raman cavity can obtain a narrow pulse width. The separated laser crystal and Raman gain media with different vanadates in shared cavity have advantages in achieving dual-wavelength lasers with small frequency intervals.

Compact,efficient diode-end-pumped Nd:GdVO_4 slab continuous-wave 912-nm laser

A fiber-coupled laser-diode （LD） end-pumped Nd：GdVO4 slab continuous-wave （CW） 912-nm laser and an LD bar end-pumped Nd：GdVO4 slab CW 912-nm laser are both demonstrated in this paper. Using the fiber-coupled LD of end-pumped type, a highest CW 912-nm laser output power of 10.17 W is obtained with a high optical to-optical conversion efficiency of 24.6% and a slope efficiency of 34.5%. The measured M2 factors of beam quality in x and y directions are 5.3 and 5.1, respectively. Besides, an LD bar of end-pumped type is used to realize CW 912-nm laser output, which has the advantages of compactness and low cost. When the pump power is 38.8 W, the output power is 8.87 W and the measured M^2 factors of beam quality in x and y directions are 16 and 1.31, respectively. In order to improve the beam quality of the 912-nm laser at x direction, a new quasi-concentric laser resonator will be designed, and an LD bar end-pumped Nd：GdVO4 slab high-power CW 912-nm TEM00 laser will be realized in the future.

EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS ON A GaAlAs LASER DIODE OPTICALLY PUMPED CESIUM BEAM

Almost all the atoms in the hyperfine sublevel F=4,m_(F)=0("clock level")of cesium ground state have been pumped out by using a laser diode tuned on the Cs-D2 line;and 15.2%population difference(|δoo|)which is more than two times better than what the traditional magnetical selecting state method could provide is found.This experimental result can be applied into building an optically pumped Cs beam frequency standard and better performance will be expected.

Generation of 54 Fs Laser Pulses from a Diode Pumped Kerr-Lens Mode-Locked Yb:LSO Laser

A diode pumped Kerr-lens mode-locked femtosecond Yb：LSO laser is experimentally demonstrated for the first time. The 54fs laser pulses at central wavelength of 1052nm with a bandwidth of 22.5nm are obtained at the repetition rate of 113 MHz. To the best of our knowledge, this is the shortest pulse duration ever produced from the Yb-doped orthosilicates lasers family.

Diode-pumped laser performance of Tm:Sc2SiO5 crystal at 1971 nm

The 4-at.% Tm：Sc_2SiO_5 （Tm：SSO） crystal is successfully obtained by the Czochralski method. The optical properties and thermal conductivity of the crystal are investigated. The broad continuous wave（CW） laser output of（100）-cut Tm：SSO with the dimensions of 3 mm×3 mm×3 mm under laser diode（LD）-pumping is realized. The full width at half maximum（FWHM） of the laser emitting reaches up to 21 nm. The laser threshold of Tm：SSO is measured to be 0.43 W. Efficient diode-pumped CW laser performance of Tm：SSO is demonstrated with a slope efficiency of 25.9% and maximum output power of 934 mW.

Diode-pumped Kerr-lens mode-locked Ti: sapphire laser with broad wavelength tunability

We report a direct blue-diode-pumped wavelength tunable Kerr-lens mode-locked Ti: sapphire laser.Central wavelength tunability as broad as 89 nm(736-825 nm) is achieved by adjusting the insertion of the prism.Pulses as short as 17 fs are generated at a central wavelength of 736 nm with an average output power of 31 mW.The maximum output power is 46.8 mW at a central wavelength of 797 nm with a pulse duration of 46 fs.

Thermal Analysis of Blue Laser Diode for Solid State Lighting Application

Solid-state light sources based on laser diode are becoming great alternative for LEDs. Improvement of the thermal characteristics of InGaN LD is very important for realizing reliable devices. In this investigation the influence of the temperature of diode on light parameters was studied. White light was obtained by coupling blue light of diode with yellow phosphors: YAG:Ce3+ and GYAG:Ce3+ with nitride. For three values of the temperature of LD’s stem, regulated by Peltier module, CCT, CRI and chromaticity coordinates were measured by spectroradiometer. The importance of emission characteristics of materials was shown. Subsequently, the influence of temperature on laser diode intensity was investigated for 120 hours. This experiment was repeated for different levels of current and temperature. Finally, the steady state of thermal finite element analysis was performed to reveal the distribution of the temperature. The analysis showed the importance of heat sink and also temperature control.

LD环状侧面均匀泵浦Nd∶YAG激光振荡器

激光二极管(Laser Diode,LD)环状侧面均匀泵浦的激光振荡器具有结构简单、光束质量高、单脉冲能量大等特点,常常在高能脉冲固体激光器中作为主振荡功率放大(MOPA)结构的振荡器,一直是国内外科研人员研究的重要方向之一。本论文通过Zemax软件对不同激光二极管排列方式以及不同工作物质吸收系数对吸收光场的影响的进行了仿真。基于仿真结果,设计了一种20个bar条串联的环状侧面泵浦结构,以提高晶体吸收的均匀性。通过该环状侧泵结构,结合超高斯非稳腔设计,搭建了一种双棒串接激光振荡器进行实验研究。该振荡器实现了在100 Hz重复频率下,单脉冲能量为496 mJ、脉冲宽度为12.4 ns的1064 nm激光输出,光束质量优于9 mm·mrad,光-光转换效率为18.5%。并且该振荡器可以维持光轴稳定不变的同时,实现20 ns脉宽以内变档可调。实验结果证明了该环状侧面均匀泵浦结构可靠有效,为MOPA结构振荡器选取提供了一种有效的方案。

双波长LD泵浦Nd^(3+)∶YAG免温控被动调Q激光器的研究

传统的固体激光器体积、重量大,功耗高,限制了其在空间受限设备中的应用。被动调Q的LD泵浦免温控固体激光器省去了复杂的温度控制装置,调Q机构简单,能够满足复杂温度环境的特殊应用场景的小型化、低功耗要求。提出了基于双波长LD泵浦实现宽温度范围免温控阈值自适应的1.06μm激光脉冲输出方法。基于Nd∶YAG晶体设计了角锥棱镜谐振腔,仿真分析了LD泵浦源到激光棒的面心距对热负载的影响,并确定4 mm的最佳面心距。数值分析了相同泵浦功率下-40~60℃温度范围内激光静态能量输出变化,以及不同初始透过率的可饱和吸收体对激光阈值脉宽的影响。计算结果表明在-37℃~60℃范围内,阈值脉宽都在200μs以下,阈值脉宽最低点达到了29.4μs。构建主波实时探测的阈值自适应调节装置并搭建实验系统,实验结果表明,在温度范围为-35~60℃时,阈值脉宽变化范围为40~180μs。采用激光腔体一体加工成型,应用轻量化的铝合金材料,实现工程化应用,体积83.5 mm×44 mm×29.5 mm,重量约为230 g。在23.8%初始透过率的饱和吸收体条件下实现单脉冲输出能量42 mJ,脉冲宽度5.2 ns。

Design of LD in-band direct-pumping side surface polished micro-rod Nd:YVO_4 laser

To diminish the thermal load, two ways, that is, in-band direct pumping and micro-rod crystal, could be adopted at the same time. The efficiency of LD in-band direct-pumping side surface polished micro-rod Nd：YVO_4 laser is numerically analyzed. By optimizing parameters such as crystal length, laser mode radius, pump beam radius, doping concentration and crystal cross-section size, the overall efficiency can reach over 50%. It is found that with micro-rod crystal implemented in the laser oscillator, high overall efficiency LD in-band direct-pumping Nd：YVO_4 laser could be realized. High efficiency combined with low thermal load makes this laser an outstanding scheme for building high-power Nd：YVO_4 lasers.

腔外旋转泵浦的Nd∶YAG固体激光器研究

固体激光器的热管理仍然是高功率激光系统发展的一个持续挑战。在激光系统中增益介质和泵浦光之间引入相对运动是一种高效的热管理方案。针对静止泵浦,旋转增益介质泵浦以及泵浦光旋转泵浦3种泵浦方式,借助有限元数值模拟方法分析了Nd∶YAG晶体的温度分布。泵浦光以800 r/min旋转时,在35 W泵浦功率下,使用标准的热沉冷却技术,晶体的最高温度达到约36℃,仅增加约16℃,这远低于静止泵浦时的142℃。实验设计并演示了一种腔外旋转泵浦的Nd∶YAG激光器,得到了12.2 W的1 064 nm连续输出,斜率效率为37.2%,这大于静止时的35.1%,实验结果与理论结果相符合。研究表明,腔外旋转泵浦的固体激光器拥有高效的热管理。