报道了一种激光二极管(LD)双末端抽运Tm:YLF激光器,在1.9 μm处获得了连续波(CW)输出。1.9 μm激光可用于抽运Ho晶体获得2 μm激光。在理论上,分析了掺Tm3+激光器的运转机制和能量转换损耗,计算出Tm:YLF激光器在理论上的斜率效率达到50%。在实验上,抽运源使用工作波长为792 nm的光纤耦合激光二极管,抽运光均分为两束双端抽运Tm:YLF晶体,两块晶体串接在折叠腔内。Tm:YLF 晶体的掺杂原子数分数为4%, 尺寸为3 mm×3 mm×12 mm。测量了输出镜在不同透射率情况下激光器的输出激光波长,当输出镜透射率T=26%时,在1.9μm处获得20.1 W的连续波激光输出,相应的抽运功率为75 W,阈值抽运功率为9 W,斜率效率为34%,光-光转换效率为27%。

A doubly resonant ZnGeP2 (ZGP) optical parametric oscillator (OPO) pumped by a novel Tm,Ho:GdVO4 laser was demonstrated. Cryogenic Tm(5 at.-%), Ho(0.5 at.-%):GdVO4 laser with high pulse repetition frequency (PRF) of 10 kHz at 2.05 μm was employed as pumping source of ZGP OPO. The 15-mm-long ZGP crystal, 55° cut for I-type phase-matching with low absorption coefficient less than 0.05 cm-1 at 2 μm, was placed in a plano-plano cavity with resonator length of 30 mm. The ZGP OPO generated a total combined output power of 1.2 W at 3.75 and 4.52 μm under pumping power of 5.3 W, corresponding to slope efficiency of 40% from incident 2-μm laser power to mid-infrared (Mid-IR) output. A widely tunable range from 3.0 to 6.5 μm was achieved by changing the crystal angle only 3.5°.

In this paper, we report a high power cryogenic cooling Tm(6 at.-%),Ho(0.5 at.-%):YLF laser end-pumped by a 19-fiber-coupled-diodes module with the central wavelength of 792 nm at 20 deg.. The highest continuous-wave power of 3.6 W at 2.051 μm is attained under pumping power of 13.6 W, corresponding to optical-optical conversion efficiency of 26%, and the slope efficiency is larger than 30%. The threshold power is only about 0.16 W because of the long lifetime, large effective emission cross section, and low re-absorption in Tm,Ho:YLF crystal.

A set of fiber-coupled continuous wave (CW) diode lasers has been used to pump Tm,Ho:GdVO4 and generate 2.048-μm laser radiation at liquid nitrogen temperature. The optical-optical efficiencies of 25%, output power of 3.5 W, and pumping threshold of 838 mW have been obtained and compared with those from Tm,Ho:YLF under identical experimental conditions.

At liquid-nitrogen temperature, at 10-kHz pulse repetition rate, Q-switched 36-ns pulses with average output power of 4 W at 2.05 um and 4.5-W continuous wave output power with a total optical-optical conversion efficiency of 30%, were achievedfrom a 6% Tm, 0.5% Ho:YLiF4 laser. This laser was end-pumped by a fiber-coupled laser diode emitting up to 15 W around 792 nm. The 1-m-long optical fiber carrying the pump radiation has a core diameter of 700 um with a numerical aperture of 0.22.