All-solid-state subnanosecond tunable ultraviolet laser sources based on Ce~(3+)-activated fluoride crystals

摘要

Several practical all-solid-state tunable ultraviolet subnanosecond laser sources have been developed based on Ce~(3+):LiLuF_4 (Ce:LLF) and Ce~(3+):liCaAlF_6 (Ce:LiCAF) active media pumped by the fifth and fourth harmonics of a regular Q-switchded 10-ns Nd:YAG laser, respectively. The demonstrated tuning range of the Ce:LiCAF oscillator providing reproducibly-single-pulse output was 282 nm to 314 nm with the maximum output energy of 1 mJ. Tunable laser output from 223 nm to 232 nm was obtained by sumfrequency-mixing Ce:LiCAF laser output with fundamental output of a Q-sw Nd:YAG laser. The maximum sbunanosecond Ce:LiCAF single-pulse output of 14 mJ was obtained in a "master oscillator-power amplifier" (MOPA) configuration.