Hippolyte Dupont, Timothée Lenfant, Lauren Guillemot, Pavel Loiko, Xavier Delen, Pascal Loiseau, Bruno Viana, Thierry Georges, Patrick Georges, Patrice Camy, Frédéric Druon
A Tm:LiYF4 laser operating on the 3 H4 → 3 H5 transition is embedded in a high-power diode-pumped Nd:ASL laser for intracavity upconversion pumping at 1.05 µm. This leads to a record-high output power at 2.3 µm for any bulk thulium laser pumped by an upconversion process. The continuous-wave Tm:LiYF4 laser delivers 1.81 W at 2.3 µm for 32 W of laser-diode pump power, making this kind of pumping competitive with direct diode pumping. The intracavity pumping process allows for counteracting the low absorption inherent to upconversion pumping and to dispatch the thermal loads on two separate laser crystals...
April 15, 2024: Optics Letters