Cavity-dumping of a semiconductor disk laser for the generation of wavelength-tunable micro-Joule nanosecond pulses.

We report on cavity-dumping of a semiconductor disk laser as a method to generate energetic wavelength-tunable nanosecond pulses with repetition rates ranging from 0.1 to 4 MHz. Experimentally, emission of 24 ns pulses with peak output power of 41 W in a single beam output (and of 30 ns with peak power of 57 W in a combined beam output) with wavelength tuning from 1045 to 1080 nm was obtained. Numerical modeling is also introduced to provide more insight into the most important parameters controlling this mode of operation and to define optimization avenues.

Microlensed microchip VECSEL.

We report a 1.055-mum microchip VECSEL array which uses a microlens-patterned diamond both as a heatspreader and as an array of concave output mirrors. This configuration, which is suitable for laser array operation, is here exploited to perform a systematic study of a set of microchip lasers with the same semiconductor structure but different cavity properties. The transverse mode selection of individual VECSELs is found to depend on the mode-matching conditions and on the microlens aperture size. Mode-matched single-device emission in the fundamental mode (M2~1.1) with pump-limited output power of 70 mW is demonstrated.