A Tm:YLF End-Pumped Acousto-Optic Q-Switched Ho:YAG Laser

Abstract

We report an acoustic Q-switched Ho:YAG laser end-pumped by a 1,908 nm Tm:YLF laser. The doping concentration of Ho:YAG crystal is 2 at.%, and dimensions ø5×20 mm. We measure the pulsedlaser output characteristics of the Ho:YAG laser at different repetition rates (RF). Under optimum experimental conditions, the high-power 2.1 μm output power reaches 4.17 W at a given pump power of 13.25 W and repetition frequency of 8.0 kHz. For a slope efficiency of 16.88%, the corresponding optical-to-optical conversion efficiency reaches 31.47%. We obtain a minimum single pulsed energy of 7.36 mJ and a pulse width of 52.8 ns at a pump power of 10.52 W and repetition rate of 0.5 kHz, with a peak power of 139 kW.