title: High-energy directly diode-pumped Q-switched 1617 nm Er:YAG laser at room temperature.
abstract: We describe high-energy Erbium-doped yttrium aluminum garnet (Er:YAG) lasers operating at 1617 nm, resonantly pumped using 1532 nm fiber-coupled laser diodes. A maximum continuous wave output power of 4.3 W at 1617 nm was achieved with an output coupler of 20% transmission under incident pump power of 29.7 W, resulting in an optical conversion of 14% with respect to the incident pump power. In Q-switched operation, the pulse energy of 11.8 mJ at 100 Hz pulse repetition frequency and 81 ns pulse duration was obtained. This energy is the highest pulse energy reported for a directly diode-pumped Q-switched Er:YAG laser operating at 1617 nm.
authors.affiliation: Shanghai Key Laboratory of All Solid-State Laser and Applied Techniques, Research Center of Space Laser Information Technology, Shanghai Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 201800, China.
authors.forename: Mingjian
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Liang
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.forename: Weibiao
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Dianyuan
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Fan