The quasi-three-level 912 nm continuous-wave laser emission under direct diode laser pumping at 880 nm into emitting level 4 F 3/2 of Nd:GdVO 4 have been demonstrated. An endpumped Nd:GdVO 4 crystal yielded 8.1 W of output power for 13.9 W of absorbed pump power. The slope efficiency with respect to the absorbed pump power was 0.679. To the best of our knowledge this is the first demonstration of such a laser system. Comparative results obtained for the pump with diode laser at 808 nm, into the highly-absorbing 4 F 5/2 level, are given in order to prove the advantages of the 880 nm wavelength pumping.

We present for the first time a Nd:YAG laser emitting at 1064 nm intracavity pumped by a 946 nm diode-pumped Nd:YAG laser. A 809 nm laser diode is used to pump the first Nd:YAG crystal emitting at 946 nm, and the second Nd:YAG laser emitting at 1064 nm intracavity pumped at 946 nm. Intracavity sum-frequency mixing at 946 and 1064 nm was then realized in a LBO crystal to reach the cyan range. We obtained a continuous-wave output power of 485 mW at 501 nm with a pump laser diode emitting 25.4 W at 809 nm.

We describe the output performances of the 916 nm 4F3/2 → 4I9/2 transition in Nd:LuVO4 under in‐band pumping with diode laser at the 880 nm wavelength, directly into the 4F3/2 emitting level. An end‐pumped Nd:LuVO4 crystal yielded 11.7 W of continuous‐wave output power for 23.5 W of absorbed pump power. The slope efficiency with respect to the absorbed pump power was 66.6%. Furthermore, 5.9 W 458 nm deep‐blue light was acquired by frequency doubling, resulting in an opticalto‐optical efficiency with respect to the absorbed pump power of 25.1%. Comparative results obtained for the pump with diode laser at 809 nm, into the highly‐absorbing 4F5/2 level, are given in order to prove the advantages of the in‐band pumping. (© 2010 by Astro Ltd., Published exclusively by WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA)

We report a diode-pumped Nd:YAG laser emitting at 899 nm based on the 4 F 3/2 -4 I 9/2 transition. A power of 1.04 W at 899 nm has been achieved in continuous-wave operation with a fiber-coupled laser diode emitting 19.2 W at 809 nm. Furthermore, intracavity second-harmonic generation in continuouswave mode has also been demonstrated with a power of 284 mW at 449.5 nm by using a BiB 3 O 6 (BiBO) nonlinear crystal. The fluctuation of the blue output power was better than 2.8%. The beam quality M 2 value is 1.3.

The continuous-wave (CW) laser properties of an efficient diode-pumped Nd:YAP crystal operating at 1.43 μm formed with a simple plane-concave cavity have been studied. With the incident pump power of 17.8 W, an output power of 2.2 W was obtained, giving an optical conversion efficiency of 12.4% and a slope efficiency of 14.7%. The beam quality factor M 2 was less than 1.2. The power stability was less 2.4% in 60 minutes. Output power at 1.43 μm laser versus the incident pump power

We report a high-efficiency Nd:LuVO 4 laser operating at 1066 and 1343 nm, respectively, direct pumped by a diode laser at 880 nm. The maximum outputs of 10.5 and 7.0 W, at 1066 and 1343 nm, respectively, are obtained in a 8-mm-thick 0.4 at.% Nd:LuVO4 crystal with 16.9 W of absorbed pump power at 880 nm, leading to a high slope efficiency with respect to the absorbed pump power of 64.4 and 44.5%. Under traditional pumping at 809 nm, the maximum outputs of 9.8 and 6.2 W, at 1066 and 1343 nm respectively, are obtained with 19.3 W of absorbed pump power, corresponding to the slope efficiency with respect to the absorbed pump power of 54.9 and 34.9%.

We present for the first time laser architecture to obtain continuous-wave yellow radiation at 594 nm. The choice of crystals (Nd:LuVO4 for emission at 1343 nm and Nd:YAG for emission at 1064 nm) was guided by laser performance. A part of the pump power was then absorbed by the Nd:LuVO4 crystal, the remaining was used to pump the Nd:YAG crystal. Intracavity sum-frequency mixing at 1343 and 1064 nm was realized in a KTiOPO4 (KTP) crystal to reach the yellow radiation. We obtained a continuous-wave output power of 312 mW at 594 nm with a pump laser diode emitting 18.4 W at 808 nm.

A Nd:LuVO 4 crystal was pumped directly into the emitting level by a laser diode at 915 nm for the first time to our knowledge. We achieved an output power of 6.7 W at 1066 nm for an absorbed pump power of 8.4 W, corresponding to an optical-to-optical conversion efficiency of 79.8%. A decrease of about 20% in heat generation under 915 nm pumping was observed compared with the 880 nm pumping.