Open AccessFemtosecond laser direct writing of few-mode depressed-cladding waveguide lasers
Author(s) -
Yuechen Jia,
Rong He,
Javier R. Vázquez de Aldana,
Hongliang Liu,
Feng Chen
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
optics express
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.394
H-Index - 271
ISSN - 1094-4087
DOI - 10.1364/oe.27.030941
Subject(s) - materials science , lasing threshold , optics , laser , cladding (metalworking) , femtosecond , optoelectronics , waveguide , physics , metallurgy
We report on mirrorless laser operation of Nd:YVO 4 single- and double-cladding waveguides fabricated by femtosecond laser direct writing. Fundamental- (LP 01 ) and high-order-mode (LP 03 , LP 05 ) guiding and lasing have been observed in waveguides with different geometries and sizes. Double-cladding waveguides exhibit good guiding and lasing performance via inheriting advantages respectively from individual single cladding. As a result, continuous-wave lasing with a threshold as low as 59 mW is obtained, depending on the optical feedback provided only by Fresnel reflections at the waveguide end faces. By using few-layer graphene as saturable absorber, passively Q-switched operation in fabricated waveguides is also achieved.