Ten-watt-level all-solid-state eye-safe intracavity Raman laser.

Area of Science:

• Optics and Photonics
• Laser Physics
• Nonlinear Optics

Background:

• High-power lasers are crucial for various applications, but eye safety remains a significant concern.
• Crystalline Raman lasers offer potential for generating specific wavelengths, but achieving high power and eye safety simultaneously is challenging.

Purpose of the Study:

• To demonstrate the first ten-watt-level eye-safe intracavity crystalline Raman laser.
• To achieve efficient, high-power, dual-wavelength eye-safe Raman laser operation.

Main Methods:

• Intracavity pumping of a KGW (KAlGe4O12) Raman crystal using an acousto-optically Q-switched 1314 nm Nd:YLF laser.
• Utilizing the bi-axial properties of the KGW crystal to achieve dual-wavelength operation by rotating the crystal.

Main Results:

• Achieved two sets of eye-safe dual-wavelength Raman lasers at 1461/1645 nm and 1490/1721 nm.
• Obtained maximum first-Stokes output powers of 7.9 W (1461 nm) and 8.2 W (1490 nm), with second-Stokes output powers of 1.4 W (1645 nm) and 1.5 W (1721 nm).
• Total eye-safe dual-wavelength output powers reached up to 9.3 W and 9.7 W, with pulse durations ranging from 3.6 to 5.5 ns and near diffraction-limited beam quality (M² < 1.6).

Conclusions:

• Successfully demonstrated a ten-watt-level eye-safe intracavity crystalline Raman laser.
• The developed laser system provides efficient, high-power, dual-wavelength output in the eye-safe spectral region.
• This advancement opens possibilities for applications requiring high-power, eye-safe laser sources.