2 µm semiconductor disk laser with a heterodyne linewidth below 10 kHz.

We demonstrate a 2 µm semiconductor disk laser emitting in a single longitudinal mode with a linewidth in the <10 kHz range. A heterodyne detection scheme was used for precise linewidth measurements. In these experiments, the output beams of two identical laser cavities were superposed in order to generate a beat note signal on a photodiode. In the absence of active frequency stabilization, a linewidth of 45 kHz was measured at an output power of 100 mW. When using a frequency stabilization consisting of a feedback loop with a Fabry-Perot interferometer as wavelength reference, the linewidth could be further reduced to 9 kHz.

Continuous-wave room-temperature operation of a 2.8 µm GaSb-based semiconductor disk laser.

We demonstrate an optically pumped semiconductor disk laser based on the (AlGaIn)(AsSb) material system, which operates at an emission wavelength of 2.8 µm. Up to 120 mW of output power were obtained in cw operation and more than 500 mW in pulsed mode. The performance of the present laser is discussed in comparison to shorter-wavelength semiconductor disk lasers based on the same materials system.

Semiconductor disk laser pumped Cr2+:Znse lasers.

A new flexible pump source, the optically-pumped semiconductor disk laser (SDL), for the Cr(2+):ZnSe laser is reported. The SDL provides up to 6W output power at a free running central wavelength of 1.98 microm. The Cr(2+):ZnSe laser operated at an output power of 1.8W and a slope efficiency of approximately 50% with respect to absorbed pump power whilst maintaining a low output intensity noise figure of <0.14% RMS. The system required no optical isolation even under the situation of significant optical feedback.