Nd:BEL laser pumped by laser diodes
Performance data for a laser-diode-pumped c-w Nd:BEL laser is presented. Two phased laser-diode arrays are used as the pump source, each emitting 500 mW. The heat sink for the arrays is temperature controlled to allow for wavelength tunability. A Nd:YAG rod was pumped under similar conditions and the results are compared. Although the absorption bandwidth for Nd:BEL is substantially broader than for Nd:YAG, the Nd:BEL was found to have a higher threshold for lasing. Both rods gave slope efficiencies of 42%. The dependence of the output power on output mirror reflectivity was measured, with Nd:BEL showing a greater sensitivity to reflectivity than Nd:YAG. The optimum reflectivities were found to be .98 and .97 for Nd:BEL and Nd:YAG respectively. The maximum TEMoo c-w power achieved for each rod at these reflectivities was 250 mW for Nd:BEL and 283 mW for Nd:YAG. The observed electrical to optical conversion efficiency was factored into a product of analytic component terms and excellent agreement was found between observed and calculated efficiencies. Under the conditions used in this work, both BEL and YAG hosts perform comparably.
- Research Organization:
- Naval Ocean Systems Center, San Diego, CA (USA)
- OSTI ID:
- 5418751
- Report Number(s):
- AD-A-209626/1/XAB
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
420300* -- Engineering-- Lasers-- (-1989)
ABSORPTION SPECTRA
EFFICIENCY
HEAT SINKS
LASERS
MIRRORS
NEODYMIUM LASERS
OPTICAL PROPERTIES
OPTICAL PUMPING
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
PUMPING
REFLECTIVITY
SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES
SEMICONDUCTOR DIODES
SENSITIVITY
SINKS
SOLID STATE LASERS
SPECTRA
SURFACE PROPERTIES
TUNING