Q-switch regime of 3-μm Er:YAG lasers

Author

Georgescu, Serban ; Lupei, Voicu

Author_Institution

Inst. of Atomic Phys., Bucharest, Romania

Volume

34

Issue

6

fYear

1998

fDate

6/1/1998 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

1031

Lastpage

1040

Abstract

A mathematical model, based exclusively on spectroscopic data concerning radiative, nonradiative, and energy transfer processes, is proposed and used to simulate the Q-switch regime of a 3-μm Er:YAG laser. The connection between the main energy transfer mechanisms that make possible generation on the self-saturated transition ⁴I _11/2→⁴I_13/2 (upconversion from ⁴I_13/2 and ⁴I_11/2 and cross relaxation from ⁴S_3/2) and the giant pulse characteristics are discussed. The radiative as well as nonradiative losses during optical pumping and giant pulse generation are defined and evaluated. A particular attention is given to the frustrated total internal reflection (FTIR) Q-switch which demonstrated real qualities for 3-μm erbium lasers. The reasons responsible for experimental performances of Q-switched Er:YAG lasers inferior to those predicted by the mathematical modeling are analyzed

Keywords

Q-switching; erbium; infrared sources; laser theory; laser transitions; optical losses; optical pumping; solid lasers; ⁴I_11/2→⁴I_13/2; Er:YAG lasers; Q-switch regime; YAG:Er; YAl5O12:Er; cross relaxation; energy transfer processes; frustrated total internal reflection; giant pulse characteristics; main energy transfer mechanisms; mathematical model; nonradiative losses; nonradiative processes; optical pumping; radiative processes; self-saturated transition; spectroscopic data; Character generation; Energy exchange; Laser modes; Laser transitions; Mathematical model; Optical losses; Optical pulse generation; Optical pumping; Pump lasers; Spectroscopy;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Quantum Electronics, IEEE Journal of

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9197

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/3.678599

Filename

678599