High power tunable diode-pumped Yb3+:CaF2 laser

A. Lucca (1) , Mathieu Jacquemet (1) , Frédéric Druon (1) , François Balembois (1) , Patrick Georges (1) , Patrice Camy (2) , Jean-Louis Doualan (2) , Richard Moncorgé (2)

1 Laboratoire Charles Fabry de l'Institut d'Optique / Elsa
2 CIMAP - UMR 6252 - Centre de recherche sur les Ions, les MAtériaux et la Photonique

Results of diode-pumped cw laser operation of an Yb31:CaF2 single crystal are reported for what is to our knowledge the first time. With a 5-at.% Yb31-doped sample we obtained 5.8-W output power at 1053 nm for 15 W of incident power at 980 nm. The laser wavelength could be tuned from 1018 to 1072 nm, and a small-signal gain as high as 1.8 was achieved, showing the great potential of Yb31:CaF2 as an amplifier medium for femtosecond pulses

Domains: Optics [physics.optics]

A. Lucca, Mathieu Jacquemet, Frédéric Druon, François Balembois, Patrick Georges, et al.. High power tunable diode-pumped Yb3+:CaF2 laser. Optics Letters, 2004, 29 (216), pp.1879-1881. ⟨hal-00700761⟩