Compact passive Q-switching of a diode-pumped Tm,Y:CaF2 laser near 2 μm

• Published in: Optics and laser technology Vol. 103; pp. 89 - 92
• Main Authors: Zhang, Cheng, Liu, Jie, Fan, Xiuwei, Peng, Qianqian, Guo, Xinsheng, Jiang, Dapeng, Qian, Xiaobo, Su, Liangbi
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Ltd 01.07.2018
• Subjects: Diode-pumped; Pulsed; Q-switched; Solid-state; Q-switched; Solid-state; Diode-pumped; Pulsed
• ISSN: 0030-3992; 1879-2545
• DOI: 10.1016/j.optlastec.2018.01.029

•The continuous wave characteristics of Tm,Y:CaF2 laser were researched.•The highest continuous wave slope efficiency of 51.5% is firstly obtained.•Passively Q-switched Tm,Y:CaF2 laser at 2 μm is demonstrated for the first time.•Graphene oxide is used as saturable absorber in passive Q-switching operation. Lasing was realized near a wavelength of 2 μm with a compact linear cavity by using a fiber-coupled 792-nm laser diode as the pump source and a Tm3+,Y3+ co-doped CaF2 crystal. By employing broadband graphene oxide (GO) as the saturable absorber (SA), a passive Q-switching Tm,Y:CaF2 laser was implemented for the first time. When the transmission of the output couple (OC) was 2%, the maximum average output power was measured to be 400 mW with a corresponding repetition rate of 20.22 kHz and a pulse width of 1.316 μs. A maximum continuous-wave (CW) output power of more than one watt was obtained with slope efficiency of 51.5%.