Diode-pumped emission of Tm3+-doped Ca2Al2SiO7 crystals

摘要

A diode-pumped Tm:Ca2Al2SiO7 (Tm:CAS) laser has been demonstrated for the first time to the authors' knowledge. A 39-mW output power and an 8.6% slope efficiency were obtained at -11 degrees C. The most attractive features of Tm:CAS are a broad absorption band near 785 nm and a large ground-state splitting. The improvement in laser performance expected from the large Stark splitting is shown to be limited by the enhancement of multiphonon relaxation processes and by the low thermal conductivity of the crystal. (C) 1998 Optical Society of America. [References: 11]