title: Midinfrared laser source with high power and beam quality.
abstract: A simple scheme for generation of high power in the midinfrared is demonstrated. By using a 15 W thulium-doped fiber laser emitting at 1907 nm to pump a Q-switched Ho:YAG laser, we obtained 9.8 W at 2096 nm at a 20 kHz pulse repetition rate with excellent beam quality. The output of this laser was used to pump a doubly resonant zinc germanium phosphide based optical parametric oscillator, and we obtained 5.1 W average power in the 3-5 microm range with M2 approximately = 1.8.
authors.affiliation: Norwegian Defence Research Establishment, Kjeller, Norway.
authors.forename: Espen
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Lippert
authors.forename: Stephane
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Nicolas
authors.forename: Gunnar
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Arisholm
authors.forename: Knut
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Stenersen
authors.forename: Gunnar
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Rustad