Multiwatt and broadly tunable laser action from diode-pumping of two silicate ytterbium-doped crystals: Yb:Y/sub 2/SiO/sub 5/ and Yb:SrY/sub 4/(SiO/sub 4/)/sub 3/O

摘要

Ytterbium-doped materials are competitors of neodymium-doped materials for high power diode-pumped lasers. Furthermore, some materials exhibit ultrabroad emission spectra, which makes them suitable for tunable or ultrafast sources around 1 /spl mu/m. The high power and tunable cw laser action in Yb:Y/sub 2/SiO/sub 5/ (YSO), and then in a composite crystal made of Yb:SrY/sub 4/(SiO/sub 4/)/sub 3/O (Yb:SYS) diffusion-bonded on an undoped YAG crystal. The pump source is a fiber-coupled laser diode emitting 13.5 W at the zero-line wavelength (977 nm for Yb:YSO and 979 nm for Yb:SYS). The resonator is a 3-mirror cavity designed to support only TEM/sub 00/ oscillation.