High output passively Q-switched diode-pumped CW Nd:YAG/Cr/sup 4+/:YAG laser

Author

Jie Song ; Cheng Li ; Nam Seong Kim ; Ueda, K.

Author_Institution

Inst. of Laser Sci., Univ. of Electro-Commun., Tokyo, Japan

fYear

2000

fDate

7-12 May 2000

Firstpage

199

Lastpage

200

Abstract

Summary form only given. Compared with actively Q-switched devices, passive techniques can significantly simplify the operation, reduce the costs and improve the reliability. Moreover, in space system, a high-voltage switch of an active Q-switched laser takes the risk of failures from discharge at critical pressures. Although good results were achieved in microchip lasers using Cr/sup 4+/:YAG as saturable absorber, very few researches were reported on high output laser with pulse energy of several millijoules. We demonstrate a rod laser of Nd:YAG which was CW pumped by laser diode (LD) arrays and passively Q-switched by a Cr/sup 4+/:YAG saturable absorber, and discussed the thermal lensing effect of the saturable absorber.

Keywords

Q-switching; chromium; laser beams; laser reliability; neodymium; optical materials; optical pumping; optical saturable absorption; solid lasers; CW laser; CW pumping; Cr/sup 4+/:YAG; Cr/sup 4+/:YAG saturable absorber; Nd:YAG laser; Nd:YAG/Cr/sup 4+/:YAG laser; Q-switched diode-pumped laser; YAG:Cr; YAG:Nd; YAl5O12:Cr; YAl5O12:Nd; active Q-switched laser; actively Q-switched devices; cost reduction; critical pressures; high output passively Q-switched diode-pumped CW laser; high-voltage switch; laser diode arrays; microchip lasers; operation; passive techniques; passively Q-switched diode-pumped laser; passively Q-switched laser; pulse energy; reliability; rod laser; saturable absorber; space system; thermal lensing effect; Chromium; Costs; Diode lasers; Laser excitation; Microchip lasers; Optical arrays; Optical pulses; Pump lasers; Semiconductor laser arrays; Switches;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Lasers and Electro-Optics, 2000. (CLEO 2000). Conference on

Conference_Location

San Francisco, CA, USA

Print_ISBN

1-55752-634-6

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/CLEO.2000.906908

Filename

906908