Comparative study on enhancement of self-Q-switched Cr,Yb:YAG lasers by bonding Yb:YAG ceramic and crystal

Abstract

Enhancement of laser-diode pumped self-Q-switched Cr, Ca, and Yb3+ ions co-doped YAG (Cr,Yb:YAG) lasers by bonding Yb:YAG ceramic to increase pump power absorption efficiency have been demonstrated for the first time to our best knowledge. Efficient Cr,Yb:YAG self-Q-switched laser performance has been achieved by bonding Yb:YAG ceramic. The effect of transmission of output coupler (TOC) on the laser performance has been investigated and found that the best laser performance was achieved with TOC = 20% for Yb:YAG ceramic. Slope efficiency of 20% was achieved with TOC = 20% for Cr,Yb:YAG self-Q-switched laser by bonding Yb:YAG ceramic. Maximum average output power of 683 mW was measured at absorbed pump power of 4.5 W; the corresponding optical-to-optical efficiency is 15.2%. The output laser pulse characteristics were compared for Cr,Yb:YAG self-Q-switched lasers by bonding Yb:YAG ceramic and crystal under different transmission of output coupler. For the same TOC, the laser performance of Cr,Yb:YAG self-Q-switched lasers by bonding Yb:YAG ceramic is better than that by bonding Yb:YAG crystal.