Crystalline fiber Ho3+: YAG laser resonantly-pumped by high-spectral-brightness laser diodes

Antoine Berrou*, Thierry Ibach, Martin Schellhorn, Wentao Hu, Rob Lammert, Laurent Vaissie, Jeff Ungar, Marc Eichhorn

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

3 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Recent advances of high power and narrow bandwidth laser diodes emitting at 1.9 mu m open the path to direct diode pumping of Ho3+:YAG lasers. The usual method to pump such laser is to use thulium fiber laser which has an excellent beam quality with high power and narrow bandwidth emission. The draw back of this system is the low efficiency of this fiber laser and the increased overall complexity. In this paper we present first results of resonantly diode pumping of a Ho3+: YAG laser with fiberlike geometry. The fiber coupled diode modules used for pumping in this work (BrightLock (TM) Ultra-500) produce each 25 W at 1.91 mu m with 3 nm linewidth. The fiber has a core diameter of 600 mu m with 0.22 numerical aperture. The Ho3+: YAG crystal has a diameter of 1.2 mm, a length of 60 mm, a doping concentration of 0.75 at.% and is symmetrically pumped by two diode modules from both ends. Total internal reflection on the polished rod barrel allows a high pump intensity along the rod length. The Ho3+: YAG laser cavity is composed of a high reflective flat mirror and a concave output coupler with a radius of curvature of 500 mm. With an output coupler of 50 % we measured a threshold of 11 W. The maximum output power was 11.87 W with a wavelength of 2.09 mu m. The incident power to output power slope efficiency was 0.38 at currently 4 % of internal losses.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationSolid State Lasers XXI: Technology and Devices
EditorsWA Clarkson, RK Shori
Place of PublicationBellingham
PublisherSPIE
Number of pages6
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2012
EventConference on Solid State Lasers XXI - Technology and Devices - San Francisco, Canada
Duration: 22 Jan 201225 Jan 2012

Publication series

NameProceedings of SPIE
PublisherSPIE
Volume8235
ISSN (Print)0277-786X

Conference

ConferenceConference on Solid State Lasers XXI - Technology and Devices
Country/TerritoryCanada
Period22/01/1225/01/12

Keywords

  • Infrared lasers
  • diode-pumped lasers
  • solid-state lasers
  • Ho:YAG
  • HO-YAG

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