Efficient laser oscillation in thermally Nd-diffused MgO:LiNbO3 singlemode waveguides

The authors present a reproducible and efficient Nd-doped LiNbO ₃ waveguide laser fabricated by thermal diffusion of Nd into commercially available MgO:LiNbO₃ doped with 5 mol% MgO, followed by formation of singlemode annealed proton-exchanged waveguides. A Fabry-Perot cavity was provided by the polished waveguide ends alone. In the resulting waveguide laser, any output power up to 25 mW (limited by the available pump power) at 1084 nm was obtained with an emission linewidth of 0.26 nm, and a slope efficiency as high as 50% was achieved with no photorefractive damage