Power-scaling Nd:YAG's quasi-four-level transition

J. I. Mackenzie

doi:10.1117/12.847996

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17 February 2010 Power-scaling Nd:YAG's quasi-four-level transition

J. I. Mackenzie

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Proceedings Volume 7578, Solid State Lasers XIX: Technology and Devices; 75780L (2010) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.847996
Event: SPIE LASE, 2010, San Francisco, California, United States

Abstract

Increasing the output power of Nd:YAG's ⁴F_3/2→⁴I_9/2 quasi-four-level transition is attractive for providing a highradiance source with a wavelength below 1micron for applications at the life sciences interface, ranging and sensing, or as a vital element for next-generation display technologies, when frequency converted into the blue-green part of the visible spectrum. Reabsorption losses at the lasing wavelength combined with a relatively low stimulated emission crosssection and competition with the much stronger 1.06 micron transition, demands a configuration with high pumping intensity, comparable to the pump saturation intensity at 808 nm, to achieve efficient operation. However, even with the availability of increasingly bright diode-lasers, the thermal deficit of the excitation cycle and the thermo-optic properties of the YAG host medium currently limit the achievable output power at 9xx nm. Presented here is a double-clad planarwaveguide Nd:YAG laser, operating at a lasing wavelength of 946 nm with an output power in the 100 W regime and better than 50% optical to optical conversion efficiency. The enhanced thermal management characteristics of the waveguide structure have enabled power-scaling well beyond that possible in a bulk laser configuration. These advantages and further power-scaling possibilities will be discussed.

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J. I. Mackenzie "Power-scaling Nd:YAG's quasi-four-level transition", Proc. SPIE 7578, Solid State Lasers XIX: Technology and Devices, 75780L (17 February 2010); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.847996

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