Continuous wave and AO Q-switch operation Tm,Ho:YAP laser pumped by a laser diode of 798 nm

摘要

Continuous wave (CW) and acousto-optical (AO) Q-switch operation of Tm (5 at.%), Ho (0.3 at.%):YAP laser at 2.13 μm wavelength were reported in this paper. The Tm,Ho:YAP crystal was cooled by liquid nitrogen and double-end-pumped by a 14.2 W fiber-coupled laser diode at 798 nm. Different resonator lengths and output couplers for the pump power were tried. A maximum conversion efficiency of 31.3% and a maximum slope efficiency of 35.2% were acquired with CW output power of 4.45 W. Average power of 4.21 W was obtained at pulse repetition frequency (PRF) of 15 kHz, corresponding to an optical-to-optical conversion efficiency of 29.6% and a slope efficiency of 32.4%. The energy per pulse of 2.3 mJ in 64 ns was achieved at 1.5 kHz with the peak power of 35.8 kW.