Passively Q-switched Er:YAG laser operating at 1617  nm at low pump power level

Adrien Aubourg (1, 2) , Julien Didierjean (2) , Nicolas Aubry (2) , François Balembois (1) , Patrick Georges (1)

1 Laboratoire Charles Fabry / Lasers
2 Fibercryst

We carried out an experimental study of an Er:YAG laser that is passively Q-switched by Cr:ZnSe saturable absorb-ers and pumped at 1470 nm by a 14 W laser diode. The 1617 nm emission is selected by an appropriate combination of transmissions of the saturable absorber and of the output coupler. With an accurate comparison between actively Q-switched and passively Q-switched operations and with Cr:ZnSe transmission measurements, we demonstrated by experiments and by simulations that the output energy is strongly dependent on the Cr:ZnSe temperature. With a better cooling of the Cr:ZnSe crystal heated by residual pump and signal absorption, the energy per pulse can be doubled, from 110 to 220 μJ, at a repetition rate of 800 Hz.

Domains: Optics [physics.optics]

Adrien Aubourg, Julien Didierjean, Nicolas Aubry, François Balembois, Patrick Georges. Passively Q-switched Er:YAG laser operating at 1617  nm at low pump power level. Journal of the Optical Society of America B, 2014, 31 (12), pp.3131-3137. ⟨10.1364/JOSAB.31.003131⟩. ⟨hal-01305579⟩