Open AccessCr:ZnS saturable absorber passively Q-switched Tm,Ho:GdVO_4 laser
Author(s) -
Yi Du,
Baoquan Yao,
Xiaoming Duan,
Zheng Cui,
Yu Ding,
Youlun Ju,
Zuochun Shen
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
optics express
Language(s) - Uncategorized
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.394
H-Index - 271
ISSN - 1094-4087
DOI - 10.1364/oe.21.026506
Subject(s) - saturable absorption , materials science , optics , laser , q switching , output coupler , pulse width modulation , laser beam quality , pulse repetition frequency , pulse (music) , slope efficiency , power (physics) , optoelectronics , fiber laser , laser beams , physics , telecommunications , radar , quantum mechanics , detector , computer science
A passively Q-switched Tm,Ho:GdVO4 laser operating at cryogenic temperature with a Cr(2+):ZnS saturable absorber pumped with continuous wave LDs was demonstrated. The performance of the laser was investigated through changing the distance between Cr(2+):ZnS and output coupler. The maximum pulse energy of 70.5 μJ was obtained at 10 W input power. The maximum average output power of PQS laser was up to 3.2 W at the pump power of 22.8 W, corresponding to CW output power of 7.4 W, pulse repetition frequency of 52 kHz, and a pulse width of 389 ns. The M(2) factor measured by the traveling knife-edge method was ~1.1 in x and y directions with near-diffraction limited beam quality.