High-repetition-rate, high-average-power, diode-pumped 2.94-microm Er:YAG laser.

Area of Science:

• Laser physics
• Materials science

Background:

• Erbium-doped Yttrium Aluminum Garnet (Er:YAG) lasers are crucial for various applications.
• Efficiently coupling pump energy into the laser crystal is key for high-power output.

Purpose of the Study:

• To demonstrate high average output power from a quasi-continuous wave (quasi-cw) diode-pumped Er:YAG laser.
• To investigate the performance of a total internal reflection (TIR) based laser cavity design.

Main Methods:

• Utilized a diode-pumped Er:YAG laser system.
• Employed a plane-mirror resonator with a length of 40 mm.
• Integrated three of five total internal reflection (TIR) regions within the laser crystal as pump facets for efficient energy coupling.

Main Results:

• Achieved more than 3 W of average output power at 2.94-μm wavelength.
• Operated the laser at 100 Hz with a 4% duty cycle.
• Attained repetition rates up to 600 Hz with over 1.2 W output power.
• Reached differential efficiencies as high as 18.3% with an optimal pump pulse width of 300 μs.

Conclusions:

• The demonstrated diode-pumped TIR Er:YAG laser offers high output power and efficiency.
• The cavity design effectively couples pump energy, enabling high repetition rate operation.
• This laser technology shows significant potential for applications requiring high-power, efficient laser sources.