Title :
Side-pumped, high beam-quality Nd:YLF amplifier for LIDAR applications
Author :
Wetter, Niklaus U. ; Ranieri, I.M. ; Baldochi, S.L.
Author_Institution :
Centra de Lasers e Aplicacoes, Cidade Univ., SaoPaulo, Brazil
Abstract :
We are constructing a Q-switched, frequency doubled Nd:YLF laser for pollution measurements in the Amazon Basin using the LIDAR technique. The laser should be very compact, robust and must present a good beam quality for efficient second harmonic generation. Our approach is a Nd:YLF MOPA based on four diode side-pumped modules (see figure 1), one for the oscillator and three for the amplifier. For compactness we use a Cr4+ saturable absorber as q-switcher. We conclude that our compact cavity design permits efficiency equal to other related works and power scalability while maintaining good beam quality.
Keywords :
Q-switching; chromium; lithium compounds; measurement by laser beam; optical harmonic generation; optical radar; optical saturable absorption; pollution measurement; solid lasers; Amazon Basin; Cr4+; Cr4+ saturable absorber; LIDAR technique; LiYF4:Nd; MOPA; Q-switch; YLF:Nd; four diode side-pumped module; frequency doubled Nd:YLF laser; pollution measurement; second harmonic generation; Diodes; Laser beams; Laser radar; Mirrors; Neodymium; Power generation; Power lasers; Pulse amplifiers; Surface emitting lasers; Vertical cavity surface emitting lasers;
Conference_Titel :
Lasers and Electro-Optics Europe, 2005. CLEO/Europe. 2005 Conference on
Print_ISBN :
0-7803-8974-3
DOI :
10.1109/CLEOE.2005.1567842
