Passive Q switching of Yb:CNGS lasers by Cr4+:YAG and V3+:YAG saturable absorbers

Identifier:  imarina:4019726

Handle: https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11797/imarina4019726

Authors:  Zhang, Xuzhao; Loiko, Pavel; Serres, Josep Maria; Jambunathan, Venkatesan; Wang, Zhengping; Guo, Shiyi; Yasukevich, Anatoly; Lucianetti, Antonio; Mocek, Tomas; Griebner, Uwe; Petrov, Valentin; Xu, Xinguang; Aguilo, Magdalena; Diaz, Francesc; Mateos, Xavier

Abstract:
© 2018 Optical Society of America. Trigonal langasite-type ordered silicate crystal Yb:Ca3NbGa3Si2O14(Yb:CNGS) is a promising material for efficient ∼1 μm lasers. We report on the first passively Q-switched Yb:CNGS laser using Cr4:YAG and V3:YAG saturable absorbers (SAs) with a 976 nm volume-Bragg-grating-stabilized diode as a pump source. The laser crystal was a c cut 3 at.% Yb:CNGS grown by the Czochralski method. It was placed in a compact microchip-type laser cavity. With a Cr4:YAG SA, very stable 62.2 μJ/4.4 ns pulses were achieved at a repetition rate of 22.5 kHz. The average output power was 1.40 W at 1015.3 nm, corresponding to a Q switching conversion efficiency of 90%. With the V3:YAG SA, the pulse characteristics were 13.3 μJ/11.1 ns at a higher repetition rate of 68.4 kHz. The performance of the Yb:CNGS∕Cr4:YAG was numerically modeled showing a good agreement with the experiment.