Efficient 1645-nm Er:YAG laser.
We report a resonantly fiber-laser-pumped Er:YAG laser operating at the eye-safe wavelength of 1645 nm, exhibiting 43% optical efficiency and 54% incident slope efficiency and emitting 7-W average power when repetitively Q switched at 10 kHz. To our knowledge, this is the best performance (conversion efficiency and average power) obtained from a bulk solid-state Q-switched erbium laser. At a 1.1-kHz pulse repetition frequency the laser produces 3.4-mJ pulses with a corresponding peak power of 162 kW. Frequency doubling to produce 822.5-nm, 4.7-kW pulses at 10 kHz was performed to demonstrate the laser's utility.
Young
York E
YE
BAE Systems, Information and Electronic Warfare, Nashua, New Hampshire 03061, USA. york.young@baesystems.com
Setzler
Scott D
SD
Snell
Kevin J
KJ
Budni
Peter A
PA
Pollak
Thomas M
TM
Chicklis
E P
EP