High-peak-power erbium lasers resonantly pumped by fiber lasers

Scott D. Setzler; York E. Young; Kevin J. Snell; Peter A. Budni; Thomas M. Pollak; Evan P. Chicklis

doi:10.1117/12.538416

8 July 2004 High-peak-power erbium lasers resonantly pumped by fiber lasers

Scott D. Setzler, York E. Young, Kevin J. Snell, Peter A. Budni, Thomas M. Pollak, Evan P. Chicklis

Proceedings Volume 5332, Solid State Lasers XIII: Technology and Devices; (2004) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.538416
Event: Lasers and Applications in Science and Engineering, 2004, San Jose, Ca, United States

Abstract

Challenges typically associated with efficient operation of bulk solid-state erbium lasers operating on the eyesafe (⁴I_13/2 → ⁴I_15/2) transition have been effectively overcome using a high-brightness fiber laser as a pump source. We report exceptional performance in a variety of laser hosts resonantly pumped by a cw, high-average-power erbium fiber laser. Herein we present results from resonantly pumped erbium-doped YAG, LuAG, YLF, YAlO₃, and YVO₄, in cw and repetitively Q-switched operation. Most notable results include 9.5 W of near-diffraction-limited output from an Er:YAG laser at 1.645 μm, Q-switched at 10 kHz with 40 ns pulsewidth (25 kW peak power) as well as 3.4 μJ/pulse with 21 ns pulses at 1.1 kHz (160 kW peak). We have achieved overall optical conversion efficiency greater than 50% with incident slope efficiency >60%. This is, to our knowledge, the highest performance (average power and conversion efficiency) obtained from a bulk solid-state Q-switched erbium laser. To demonstrate the utility of such sources, we also present results from second harmonic generation to 822nm, as well as a periodically poled lithium niobate optical parametric oscillator generating tunable 2.5 - 3.8 micron output.

Citation Download Citation

Scott D. Setzler, York E. Young, Kevin J. Snell, Peter A. Budni, Thomas M. Pollak, and Evan P. Chicklis "High-peak-power erbium lasers resonantly pumped by fiber lasers", Proc. SPIE 5332, Solid State Lasers XIII: Technology and Devices, (8 July 2004); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.538416

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