Tunable diode-pumped and frequency-doubled Cr:LiSAF lasers

Laperle, Pierre; Snell, Kevin J.; Chandonnet, Alain; Galarneau, Pierre; Vallée, Réal

doi:10.1364/ao.36.005053

Cited by 16 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 9 publications

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“…For example, the corresponding optical-to-optical and electrical-to-optical blue conversion efficiencies of the system are about 2.4% and 0.7%, respectively. For comparison, the obtained optical-to-optical conversion efficiencies are mostly better than what has been achieved with Cr:LiSAF (0.37 mW blue power with 350 mW of pump power, 0.11% efficiency [27], 20 mW blue power with 3 W of pump power, 0.66% efficiency [25], 13 mW blue with 700 mW of pump power, 1.86% efficiency [26], 32 mW blue power with 1 W of pump power, 3.2% efficiency [28]). Certainly, the results of this study were only possible due to the low-loss Cr:LiCAF crystal and optics we have utilized, which enabled the construction of a high-Q laser cavity with intracavity laser powers around 30 W.…”

Section: B Continuous-wave Tunable Blue Generation Resultsmentioning

confidence: 72%

“…Earlier experiments of blue generation with Cr:Colquiriites have been focused on Cr:LiSAF and intracavity blue generation from continuous wave (cw) [25][26][27][28] and q-switched [16,29,30] sources as well as extra cavity femtosecond blue generation have been demonstrated [31][32][33]. In the intracavity cw blue generation experiments with Cr:LiSAF, cw blue powers up to 32 mW at 430 nm have been reached from a Cr:LiSAF laser pumped by a 1 W diode [28].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Low-cost, broadly tunable (375–433 nm & 746–887 nm) Cr:LiCAF laser pumped by one single-spatial-mode diode

et al. 2012

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We describe a low-cost, compact, and efficient Cr(3+):LiCaAlF(6) (Cr:LiCAF) laser that is broadly tunable in the near infrared (746-887 nm) and blue/ultraviolet (375-433 nm) regions of the optical spectrum. The pump source is a 660 nm single-mode-diode with 145 mW of output power. A melt-grown Cr:LiCAF crystal with an extremely high figure of merit above 2000 was used as the gain medium. This enabled the construction of a high-Q-cavity with continuous wave (cw) lasing thresholds as low as 3 mW, slope efficiencies as high as 54%, and output powers up to 63 mW. The stored intracavity power levels were above 30 W. By placing a beta-barium-borate crystal at a second intracavity focus, we could obtain tunable cw blue/ultraviolet radiation with output powers up to 3.5 mW around 400 nm. When mode-locked using a saturable Bragg reflector around 800 nm, the Cr:LiCAF laser produced 95 fs pulses with average powers of 33 mW and peak powers of 3.58 kW at a repetition rate of 85.5 MHz. Extracavity second harmonic generation enables generation of femtosecond pulses around 400 nm. These results demonstrate the possibility to grow Cr:LiCAF crystals with passive losses below 0.15% per cm, which enables construction of low-cost and complexity systems that are pumped only with one low-power single-mode-diode.

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Section: B Continuous-wave Tunable Blue Generation Resultsmentioning

confidence: 72%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Low-cost, broadly tunable (375–433 nm & 746–887 nm) Cr:LiCAF laser pumped by one single-spatial-mode diode

et al. 2012

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“…With its demonstrated cw tuning range in this study (from 780 to 1110 nm), it also has one of the largest fractional tuning ranges (0.35) among all solid-state gain media. Lastly, earlier studies indicate that, using cw intracavity second harmonic generation, the tuning range of Cr:LiSAF lasers might be extended into the blue to green regions of the optical spectrum [59][60][61][62]. This spectral region is of great interest for several applications including imaging, remote atmospheric sensing, medical diagnosis, and information storage.…”

Section: B Tuning the Cw Lasermentioning

confidence: 99%

Compact and efficient Cr:LiSAF lasers pumped by one single-spatial-mode diode: a minimal cost approach

2012

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In this study, we report a minimal-cost and minimal-complexity Cr:LiSAF laser that is pumped only by one inexpensive single-spatial-mode diode. The pump diode, which was originally developed for DVD-writers, provides 130 mW of output power at 660 nm with an efficiency of 30%. This simple pump source enables the construction of a Cr:LiSAF laser that (i) has an estimated total material cost below US$ 5k, (ii) has a footprint of about 20 × 30 cm, (iii) does not require active cooling, and (iv) can be driven by batteries. All of these make this system ideal for applications that require portability. In continuous-wave (cw) laser experiments, we have demonstrated lasing thresholds as low as 2 mW, slope efficiencies as high as 52%, and output powers up to 58 mW. A record cw tuning range extending from 780 to 1110 nm has also been obtained. In cw mode-locking experiments using a saturable Bragg reflector at 850 nm, the Cr:LiSAF laser produced 100 fs pulses with an average power of 38 mW at a repetition rate of 235 MHz. Using a more compact laser cavity, we have also obtained 130 fs pulses with an average power of 33 mW at a repetition rate of 757 MHz. The corresponding electrical-to-optical conversion efficiencies in cw and cw mode-locked regimes were 12.8% and 8.4%, respectively. These results show that, with the progress in laser-diode and optical mirror technology in the last decade, reasonable output powers can now be obtained from Cr:LiSAF lasers that are pumped only by one single-spatial-mode diode. We believe that this compact, low-cost, and simplistic Cr:LiSAF laser system may be an attractive source for several applications including amplifier seeding.

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“…The most widely studied intracavity nonlinear frequency conversion process in Cr-doped colquiriites has been second-harmonic generation (SHG) in Cr:LiSAF lasers for tunable blue light generation (Balembois et al, 1992;Laperle et al, 1997;Makio et al, 2000). In the following section we will widen the utility of Cr-doped colquiriites to new intracavity frequency conversion processes such as optical parametric oscillation (OPO) and difference frequency generation (DFG).…”

Section: Intracavity Nonlinear Frequency Conversion and External Cavimentioning

confidence: 99%

Intra-Cavity Nonlinear Frequency Conversion with Cr3+-Colquiriite Solid-State Lasers

Maestre¹,

Torregrosa²,

Capmany³

2012

Solid State Laser

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Tunable diode-pumped and frequency-doubled Cr:LiSAF lasers

Cited by 16 publications

References 9 publications

Low-cost, broadly tunable (375–433 nm & 746–887 nm) Cr:LiCAF laser pumped by one single-spatial-mode diode

Low-cost, broadly tunable (375–433 nm & 746–887 nm) Cr:LiCAF laser pumped by one single-spatial-mode diode

Compact and efficient Cr:LiSAF lasers pumped by one single-spatial-mode diode: a minimal cost approach

Intra-Cavity Nonlinear Frequency Conversion with Cr3+-Colquiriite Solid-State Lasers

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