Efficient laser oscillation in thermally Nd-diffused MgO:LiNbO3 singlemode waveguides

Abstract

The authors present a reproducible and efficient Nd-doped LiNbO3 waveguide laser fabricated by thermal diffusion of Nd into commercially available MgO:LiNbO3 doped with 5 mol % MgO, followed by formation of singlemode annealed proton-exchanged waveguides. A Fabry-Perot cavity was provided by the polished waveguide ends alone. In the resulting waveguide laser, any output power up to 25mW (limited by the available pump power) at 1084nm was obtained with an emission linewidth of 0.26nm, and a slope efficiency as high as 50% was achieved with no photorefractive damage.