title: Efficient 1645 nm continuous-wave and Q-switched Er:YAG laser pumped by 1532 nm narrow-band laser diode.
abstract: Energy transfer upconversion induced thermal effects are mainly responsible for the low efficiency of laser diode pumped Er:YAG lasers. The current work adopts Er:YAG rods with 0.25% Er(3+) doping concentration, instead of the commonly used rods with 0.5% Er(3+) doping concentration. Results show that the thermal effect is greatly alleviated. A continuous-wave output of 10.2 W is obtained using 31 W incident pump power. Optical-optical efficiency is approximately 33%. Slope efficiency, with respect to the absorbed pump power, is as high as 83%, which is close to the quantum efficiency. In a Q-switched operation, 7 mJ pulses with a pulse width of ~65 ns are obtained at 100 Hz PRF.
authors.affiliation: Research Center of Space Laser Information Technology, Shanghai Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Science, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Liang
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.forename: Mingjian
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.forename: Weibiao
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Chen
mesh_terms: D017076:Computer-Aided Design; D004735:Energy Transfer; D004867:Equipment Design; D019544:Equipment Failure Analysis; D053844:Lasers, Solid-State