Nd laser pumped by laser diodes. Professional paper
Performance data for laser diode pumped cw Nd:BEL and Nd :YAG lasers are 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 similiar 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 had slope efficiencies of 42 percent. The dependence of the 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 cw power achieved for each rod at these reflectivities was 250 mW for Nd:BEL and 283 mW for Nd:YAG. We conclude that under the conditions used in this work, both BEL and YAG hosts perform comparably. Measurements of higher output power and efficiency have recently been made using two 1-watt single stripe laser diodes as the pump source, and these results are given as well.
- Research Organization:
- Naval Ocean Systems Center, San Diego, CA (USA)
- OSTI ID:
- 7196169
- Report Number(s):
- AD-A-216331/9/XAB
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
426002* -- Engineering-- Lasers & Masers-- (1990-)
ABSORPTION SPECTRA
COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS
CONTROL
HEAT SINKS
LASERS
MIRRORS
NEODYMIUM LASERS
OPTICAL PROPERTIES
OPTICAL PUMPING
PERFORMANCE
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
POWER
PUMPING
REFLECTIVITY
RODS
SENSITIVITY
SINKS
SOLID STATE LASERS
SPECTRA
SURFACE PROPERTIES
TEMPERATURE CONTROL
TUNING