Abstract
A room temperature, diode-pumped Ho:Tm:YLF laser demonstrated efficient normal mode and Q-switched, single pulse performance using lateral pumping of the laser rod. Ho:Tm:YLF has demonstrated higher gain and lower upconversion rates than the conventional choice, Ho:Tm:YAG. Other parameters influencing the selection of YLF are the cross relaxation of Tm, the relative distribution of the Tm 3F4 and the Ho 5I7 manifolds including ground-state depletion, and the thermal population of the upper and lower laser levels. Since thermal population of the lower laser level is critical, ostensibly, YAG may appear to be a better choice since the lower laser level has a lower thermal population. However, other factors must be considered. One factor in particular is a greater fraction of the pump energy appears in the Ho 5I7 manifold rather than the Tm 3T4 manifold when YLF i s used instead o f YAG, which promotes better Q-switched performance.
© 1993 Optical Society of America
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