Mixed garnet laser crystals for water vapour detection

The main objective of this work is the realization of a ground state laser at the required wavelengths of the differential absorption lidar (DIAL)-transmitter, the emission wavelengths of each crystal-type has been analysed. Two possible Nd-doped garnet crystals for different wavelength regions have been identified: GSAG for 942 nm and YGG for 935 nm. In addition to the first grown smaller-sized spectroscopic crystals, the growth of crackfree Nd:GSAG and Nd:YGG laserboules has been accomplished with special compositions close to the congruent melt. Both crystals have been tested in a ground state laser setup and achieved output powers of /spl sim/1.8 W without any crystal coatings.