Ho:YLF & Ho:LuLF slab amplifier system delivering 200 mJ, 2 µm single-frequency pulses

Area of Science:

• Laser physics
• Solid-state laser technology

Background:

• High-energy, single-frequency lasers are crucial for various scientific applications.
• Developing scalable laser architectures is essential for increasing output energy.

Purpose of the Study:

• To demonstrate a high-energy, single-frequency, single-pass amplifier using Ho:YLF and Ho:LuLF materials.
• To investigate the performance of a scalable slab architecture for such amplifiers.

Main Methods:

• Utilized a scalable slab architecture for the amplifier.
• Employed holmium-doped yttrium lithium fluoride (Ho:YLF) and lutetium lithium fluoride (Ho:LuLF) as gain media.
• End-pumped the amplifier using a 1890 nm thulium-doped yttrium lithium fluoride (Tm:YLF) slab laser.
• Seeded the amplifier with a 69 mJ single-frequency Ho:YLF ring laser operating at 50 Hz.

Main Results:

• Achieved a maximum output energy of 210 mJ at a wavelength of 2064 nm.
• Demonstrated the effectiveness of the scalable slab architecture for high-energy amplification.
• Confirmed single-frequency operation of the amplified output.

Conclusions:

• The demonstrated Ho:YLF and Ho:LuLF slab amplifier represents a significant advancement in high-energy, single-frequency laser sources.
• The scalable architecture shows promise for future development of even higher-power laser systems at 2064 nm.