High power diode-pumped Yb:GdCOB laser: from continuous-wave to femtosecond regime

Frédéric Druon (1) , Sébastien Chenais (1) , François Balembois (1) , Patrick Georges (1) , Alain Brun (1) , Antoine Courjaud (2) , Clemens Hönninger (2) , François Salin (3) , Margherita Zavelani-Rossi (4) , Frederika Auge-Rochereau (4) , Jean-Paul Chambaret (4) , Astrid Aron (5) , Frédéric Mougel (6) , Gérard Aka (6) , Daniel Vivien (6)

1 Laboratoire Charles Fabry de l'Institut d'Optique / Elsa
2 Amplitude Systèmes
3 CELIA - Centre d'Etudes Lasers Intenses et Applications
4 LOA - Laboratoire d'optique appliquée
5 LCAES - Laboratoire de Chimie Appliquée de l'État Solide
6 LCMCP (site ENSCP) - Laboratoire de Chimie de la Matière Condensée de Paris (site ENSCP)

We present an efficient tunable continuous-wave diode-pumped Yb3+:Ca4GdO(BO3)3 (Yb:GdCOB) laser producing at room temperature up to 3.2 W average power with a slope efficiency of 80% when pumped with a 10 W laser diode. A large tunability from 1017 to 1086 nm is obtained. The broad emission spectrum has been used to develop a diode-pumped Yb:GdCOB femtosecond laser. The laser generated 90 fs pulses, at a center wavelength of 1045 nm. By using a semiconductor saturable absorber mirror (SESAM) for the mode locking, the average power was 40 mW and the repetition rate of 100 MHz.

Domains: Optics [physics.optics]

Frédéric Druon, Sébastien Chenais, François Balembois, Patrick Georges, Alain Brun, et al.. High power diode-pumped Yb:GdCOB laser: from continuous-wave to femtosecond regime. Optical Materials, 2002, 19, pp.73-80. ⟨10.1016/S0925-3467(01)00203-8⟩. ⟨hal-00761453⟩