Cr^4+:YAG double-clad crystal fiber laser

Abstract

We report what we believe to be the first demonstration of a room-temperature, continuous-wave Cr(4+):Y(3)Al(5)O(12) (Cr(4+):YAG) double-clad crystal fiber laser grown by the codrawing laser heated pedestal growth method. The threshold is below 100 mW, which is a factor of 4 lower than previously reported Cr(4+)-doped lasers. A slope efficiency of 6.9% was obtained, and is in good agreement with the numerical simulation. In additional to small core diameter, the low-threshold lasing is made possible by the low propagation loss of 0.08 dB/cm and the high crystallinity of the core.