Highly-efficient mid-infrared CW laser operation in a lightly-doped 3 at.% Er:SrF 2 single crystal

3 at.% Er:SrF laser crystals with high optical quality were successfully grown using the temperature gradient technique (TGT). The intense mid-infrared emission was observed around 2.7 μm with excitation by a 970 nm LD. Based on the Judd-Ofelt theory, the emission cross-sections of the I - I transit...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inOptics express Vol. 26; no. 5; p. 5558
Main Authors Su, Liangbi, Guo, Xinsheng, Jiang, Dapeng, Wu, Qinghui, Qin, Zhipeng, Xie, Guoqiang
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United States 05.03.2018
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Summary:3 at.% Er:SrF laser crystals with high optical quality were successfully grown using the temperature gradient technique (TGT). The intense mid-infrared emission was observed around 2.7 μm with excitation by a 970 nm LD. Based on the Judd-Ofelt theory, the emission cross-sections of the I - I transition were calculated by using the Fuchtbauer-Ladenburg (FL) method. Efficient continuous-wave laser operation at 2.8 µm was achieved with the lightly-doped 3 at.% Er:SrF crystal pumped by a 970 nm laser diode. The laser output power reached up to 1.06 W with a maximum slope efficiency of 26%.
ISSN:1094-4087
1094-4087
DOI:10.1364/OE.26.005558