14 W linear ZGP OPO pumped by a Q-switched Ho3+:YAG laser with a maximum energy of 2.2 mJ

Abstract

We present a Ho 3+ :YAG laser source and use it to pump a linear ZGP OPO with a novel design intended to improve the mode matching properties of the resonator. Beam quality measurements are used to evaluate the performance of the novel design in comparison with a conventional linear resonator. Operated at 25 kHz repetition rate, the Ho 3+ :YAG laser delivers 2.2 mJ, 20 ns Q-switched pulses. This results in a pulse peak power of 108 kW while the average output power is 58 W. In the optimal ZGP OPO configuration, 14.1 W of signal and idler output power are achieved with a conversion efficiency of 49.8 % with respect to the absorbed pump power. A clearly improved beam quality of 2.1 and 3.3 (2.4 and 3.5) in the x-and y-axis of the signal (idler) beam compared to the conventional linear resonator is shown.