Room temperature watt-level 3.87†µm MgO:PPLN optical parametric oscillator under pumping with a Tm:YAP laser.

A room-temperature highly efficient Tm:YAP laser pumped MgO:PPLN optical parametric oscillator operating at 3.87 µm near degeneracy is demonstrated. The pump source is an acousto-optical (AO) Q-switched Tm:YAP laser, which delivers a maximum output power of 6.17 W with a pulse duration of 45 ns and a repetition rate of 6 kHz. The temperature dependent wavelength tuning characteristics of the PPLN-OPO is investigated, and a maximum OPO output power of 1.2 W at around 3.87 µm is achieved at 35°C, corresponding to an optical-optical conversion efficiency of 19.4%. To the best of our knowledge, this is the maximum output power ever reported from 2 µm waveband laser pumped 3-5 µm MgO:PPLN OPOs.

Passively Q-switched Er:Lu2O3 laser at 2.8 µm with TiC saturable absorber.

Titanium carbide (TiC) nanosheets of two-dimensional multilayer structure were prepared by the liquid-phase exfoliation method. By using the TiC as a saturable absorber, a stable passively Q-switched Er:Lu2O3 laser at 2.85 µm was realized. Under an absorbed pump power of 7.32 W, the obtained maximum output power was 896 mW with a slope efficiency of 15.6%. The Q-switched pulse duration was measured to be 266.8 ns with repetition rates of 136.9 kHz, corresponding to a peak power of 24.6 W.

High-peak-power Q-switched 1988 nm bulk laser based on an electro-optical La3Ga5SiO14 modulator.

An electro-optically (EO) $Q$Q-switched Tm:YAP laser with high peak power was demonstrated based on a ${{\rm La}_3}{{\rm Ga}_5}{{\rm SiO}_{14}}$La3Ga5SiO14 (LGS) crystal. The EO modulator was operated in a pulse-on mode driven by a 1/4 wave voltage of 2400 V, which was the lowest voltage designed for LGS-based EO modulators at 2 µm, to the best of our knowledge. At a repetition rate of 200 Hz, a maximum single-pulse energy of 3.15 mJ was obtained with a minimum pulse duration of 17 ns, corresponding to a peak power as high as 185.3 kW.

Passively Q-switched performance of a Nd:Gd3Ga5O12 eye-safe laser at 1423.4 nm with Co2+:LaMgAl11O19 as saturable absorber.

The performance of a LD-pumped passively Q-switched Nd:GGG eye-safe laser at 1423.4 nm with a Co(2+):LaMgAl(11)O(19) (Co:LMA) saturable absorber is demonstrated. A maximum average output power of 627 mW with an optical-to-optical efficiency of 3.35% and a slope efficiency of 5.1% was obtained under a pump power of 18.7 W. A minimum pulsewidth of 102 ns and a pulse repetition rate of 35 kHz were obtained with the T=1.0% output coupler.