Diode-pumped efficient Tm,Ho:GdVO(4) laser with near-diffraction limited beam quality

Area of Science:

• Lasers and Photonics
• Solid-State Lasers
• Materials Science

Background:

• Diode-pumped solid-state lasers (DPSSLs) are crucial for various applications.
• Thulium (Tm) and Holmium (Ho) co-doped lasers offer unique emission properties.
• Gadolinium vanadate (GdVO4) is a promising host material for laser applications.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop an efficient diode-pumped Tm,Ho:GdVO4 laser.
• To optimize the laser cavity for improved thermal management and stability.
• To achieve high beam quality and significant output power.

Main Methods:

• Utilized a diode-pumping scheme for the Tm,Ho:GdVO4 crystal.
• Optimized the resonator configuration to mitigate thermal effects and mode coupling.
• Employed continuous-wave (CW) and repetitively Q-switched operation modes.
• Measured output power, conversion efficiency, slope efficiency, and beam quality factor (M²).

Main Results:

• Achieved 10.5 W CW output power at 77 K with 46% conversion efficiency and 50% slope efficiency.
• Demonstrated 10.1 W output power at 10 kHz in Q-switched operation.
• Measured a high beam quality factor of M² < 1.1.
• Obtained 1.9 mJ pulse energy at 5 kHz, resulting in 0.14 MW peak power.

Conclusions:

• The optimized diode-pumped Tm,Ho:GdVO4 laser exhibits excellent performance and high beam quality.
• The cavity design effectively suppresses thermal effects, enhancing resonator stability.
• This laser system shows potential for applications requiring high-power, high-quality laser output.