Comparison of Nd 1.06 and 1.33 µm operation in various hosts

Author

Barnes, Norman P. ; Gettemy, Donald J. ; Esterowitz, Leon ; Allen, Roger E.

Author_Institution

NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton, VA, USA

Volume

23

Issue

9

fYear

1987

fDate

9/1/1987 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

1434

Lastpage

1451

Abstract

Performances of Nd in various hosts including Nd:YAG, Nd:YLF, Nd:BEL, and Nd:Cr:GSGG were characterized and compared for operation on the nominal 1.06 μm and 1.33 μm transitions. Comparison included continuous mode operation, normal mode operation, $Q$ -switched operation, and gain measurements. Continuous lasing of Nd:Cr:GSGG under lamp pumping is reported for what may be the first time. Characterization included operation with different mirror reflectivities to obtain the internal losses, measurement of the upper laser level lifetime, measurement of the beam quality of the lasers operating under nominally similar circumstances, and measurement of the wavelength. These measurements should provide a comparison of the various Nd hosts under similar circumstances for a wide variety of operational modes and at both wavelengths of interest.

Keywords

Neodymium:YAG lasers; Neodymium:solid lasers; YLF lasers; Gain measurement; Lamps; Laser beams; Laser modes; Loss measurement; Mirrors; Neodymium; Pump lasers; Reflectivity; Wavelength measurement;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Quantum Electronics, IEEE Journal of

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9197

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/JQE.1987.1073528

Filename

1073528