Diode-pumped Yb3+: YLF and Yb3+:CaF2 laser performance

Year: 2010

Authors: Pirri A., Alderighi D., Toci G., Nikl M., Sato H., Tonelli M., Vannini M.

Autors Affiliation: Istituto di Fisica Applicata Nello Carrara, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche IFAC-CNR, Via Madonna del Piano 10C, 50019, Sesto Fiorentino FI, Italy; Institute of Physics, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Cukrovarnicka 10, Prague 162 53, Czech Republic; Fukuda Crystal Laboratory Ltd., 6-6-3 Minami-Yoshinari, Aoba-ku, Sendai 989-3204, Japan; NIST-Dipartimento di Fisica E. Fermi, Largo B. Pontecorvo, XX, 57127, Pisa, Italy

Abstract: We report an extensive comparison of the laser performances of diode-pumped Yb3+:YLF (30% at.) and Yb3+:CaF2 (5% at.) crystals, lasing at room-temperature and operating in two different operation modes, i.e. Continuous Wave (CW) and quasi-CW. An in-depth investigation of the crystals behavior by changing the pump power, clearly shows that the crystal absorption depends on the lasing conditions. Therefore, we report an unambiguous evaluation of the slope efficiency calculated taken into account the real measured crystal absorption under laser action. Finally, we present a study of problems related to thermally induced losses which are expected influencing the laser performance.

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KeyWords: Diode pumped infrared lasers; Ytterbium lasers
DOI: 10.1063/1.3326329