30 W peak-power 3 ns pulse-width operation of a 2 µm electro-optically cavity-dumped VECSEL

Sebastian Kaspar; Marcel Rattunde; Tino Töpper; Steffen Adler; Ulrich T. Schwarz; Christian Manz; Klaus Köhler; Joachim Wagner

doi:10.1117/12.2001810

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18 February 2013 30W peak-power 3ns pulse-width operation of a 2μm electro-optically cavity-dumped VECSEL

Sebastian Kaspar, Marcel Rattunde, Tino Töpper, Steffen Adler, Ulrich T. Schwarz, Christian Manz, Klaus Köhler, Joachim Wagner

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Proceedings Volume 8606, Vertical External Cavity Surface Emitting Lasers (VECSELs) III; 86060B (2013) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2001810
Event: SPIE LASE, 2013, San Francisco, California, United States

Abstract

In this paper electro-optic cavity dumping of a 2 μm semiconductor disk laser is reported. Using this approach, pulsed mode operation with 3 ns pulse length, 30 W of peak power and pulse repetition frequencies between 87 kHz and 1 MHz has been achieved. For cavity dumping, a birefringent polarizer prism was inserted into the V-shaped external cavity formed by high-reflectivity mirrors, in order to establish a linear polarization of the intra-cavity field. The polarization of the intra-cavity field could be rotated by 90° when applying a voltage to a Pockels cell placed inside the cavity close to the end mirror. Photons with rotated polarization undergo then total internal reflection inside the polarizing prism and are coupled out of the cavity sideways. Furthermore, a model based on standard laser rate equations has been developed, which excellently reproduces the measured pulse shape and temporal evolution of the intracavity power. Based on this model, we have studied the pulse length and shape as well as peak power and pulse energy as a function of cavity length in order to explore routes for further increasing peak output power and pulse energy.

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Sebastian Kaspar, Marcel Rattunde, Tino Töpper, Steffen Adler, Ulrich T. Schwarz, Christian Manz, Klaus Köhler, and Joachim Wagner "30W peak-power 3ns pulse-width operation of a 2μm electro-optically cavity-dumped VECSEL", Proc. SPIE 8606, Vertical External Cavity Surface Emitting Lasers (VECSELs) III, 86060B (18 February 2013); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2001810

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