Highly efficient in-band pumped Er:YAG laser with 60 W of output at 1645 nm

• Published in: Optics letters 2006-03, Vol.31 (6), p.754-756
• Main Authors: SHEN, D. Y, SAHU, J. K, CLARKSON, W. A
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Doped-insulator lasers and other solid state lasers; Exact sciences and technology; Fundamental areas of phenomenology (including applications); Lasers; Optics; Physics
• ISSN: 0146-9592; 1539-4794
• DOI: 10.1364/OL.31.000754

A high-power Er:YAG laser that is in-band pumped by a high-power cladding-pumped erbium-ytterbium codoped fiber laser operating at 1532 nm is reported. The Er:YAG laser produced 60.3 W of continuous-wave output at 1645.3 nm in a beam with M2 approximately equal to 3 for 82 W of incident pump power and 20 W of TEM00 output with M2 < 1.2 for 32.4 W of incident pump power. The slope efficiency with respect to incident pump power at pump powers of >20 W was approximately 81%. In the Q-switched mode of operation, a slightly modified resonator configuration incorporating an electro-optic Q switch produced pulses of approximately 4 mJ energy and approximately 100 ns (FWHM) duration, corresponding to a peak power of approximately 42 kW at a repetition rate of 1 kHz for an incident pump power of 16.8 W. The prospects for further improvement in continuous-wave and Q-switched performance are discussed.