title: Efficient laser-diode-pumped neodymium-doped calcium-niobium-gallium-garnet laser.
abstract: Efficient lasing of Nd:Ca (Nb, Ga)(2-x) Ga(3)-garnet (CNGG) disordered crystal pumped by a laser diode was demonstrated. In the end-pumped cw lasing experiment with a single-stripe diode, a slope efficiency of 24.2% and a maximum optical conversion efficiency of 19.3% were obtained. It was shown that the dependence of cw output power on the pump wavelength is insensitive compared with Nd:YAG because of the broad pump absorption bandwidth of Nd:CNGG. From the diode-bar-pumped experiment, it was confirmed that Nd:CNGG is a promising material for diode-bar pumping to obtain high average power with good beam quality, because of its advantages of a broader pump absorption band compared with that of Nd:YAG and the higher thermal conductivity compared with Nd-doped glasses.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Naito
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Yokotani
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Sasaki
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Okuyama
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Yamanaka
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nakatsuka
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Nakai
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Fukuda
authors.forename: M I
authors.initials: MI
authors.lastname: Timoshechkin