Abstract

High energy sources operating around 2 µm are of interest in applications such as LIDAR and material processing and have also been used effectively as pump sources for high-energy mid-IR non-linear conversion, an established approach for generating mid-IR lasers. Commonly used bulk laser materials are Ho:YLF and Ho:YAG. However, at room temperature the quasi-three-level nature of these materials is a fundamental limitation, as it requires high pump power focused into small areas in order to reach transparency, leading to wave front distortions and optical damage.

© 2017 IEEE