THERMAL LENSING MEASUREMENTS IN THE ANISOTROPIC LASER CRYSTALS UNDER DIODE PUMPING
Abstract
An experimental setup was developed for thermal lensing measurements in the anisotropic diode-pumped laser crystals. The studied crystal is placed into the stable two-mirror laser cavity operating at the fundamental transversal mode. The output beam radius is measured with respect to the pump intensity for different meridional planes (all these planes contain the light propagation direction). These dependencies are fitted using the ABCD matrix method in order to obtain the sensitivity factors showing the change of the optical power of thermal lens due to variation of the pump intensity. The difference of the sensitivity factors for two mutually orthogonal principal meridional planes describes the thermal lens astigmatism degree. By means of this approach, thermal lensing was characterized in the diode-pumped monoclinic Np-cut Nd:KGd(WO4)2 laser crystal at the wavelength of 1.067 μm for light polarization E || Nm.
About the Authors
P. A. Loiko
Center for Optical Materials and Technologies, Belarusian National Technical University
Belarus
Belarus
V. G. Savitski
Institute of Photonics, University of Strathclyde, Wolfson Centre, 106 Rottenrow, Glasgow G4 0NW
United Kingdom
United Kingdom
K. V. Yumashev
Center for Optical Materials and Technologies, Belarusian National Technical University
Belarus
Belarus
N. V. Kuleshov
Center for Optical Materials and Technologies, Belarusian National Technical University
Belarus
Belarus
A. A. Pavlyuk
Nikolaev Institute for Inorganic Chemistry, Siberian Branch of Russian Academy of Sciences, Novosibirsk
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
References
1. Chenais, S. On thermal effects in solid-state lasers: The case of ytterbium-doped materials / S. Chenais [et al.] // Progress in Quant. Electr. – 2006. – № 30. – P. 89–153.
2. Hodgson, N. Optical resonators: fundamentals, advanced concepts and applications / N. Hodgson, H. Weber // Springer. – 1997. – Chap. 12.
3. Koechner, W. Solid-State Laser Engineering, 6th ed. / W. Koechner // Springer. – 2006. – Chap. 7.
4. Cousins, A.K. Temperature and thermal stress scaling in finite-length end-pumped laser rods / A.K. Cousins // IEEE J. Quantum Electron. – 1992. – Vol. 28. – P. 1057–1069.
5. Loiko, P.A. Thermooptic coefficients and thermal lensing in the Nd-doped KGd(WO4)2 laser crystals / P.A. Loiko [et al.] // Appl. Opt. – 2010. – Vol. 49. – P. 6651–6659.
6. Mochalov I.V. Laser and nonlinear properties of the potassium gadolinium tungstate laser crystal KGd(WO4)2:Nd3+-(KGW:Nd) / I.V. Mochalov / Opt. Eng. – 1997. – № 36. – P. 1660–1669.
7. Loiko, P.A. Thermal lens study in diode pumped Ngand Np-cut Nd:KGd(WO4)2 laser crystals / P.A. Loiko [et al.] // Optics Express. – 2009. – Vol. 17. – P. 23536– 23543.
8. Chen, Y. Polarized spectroscopic properties of Nd3+-doped KGd(WO4)2 single crystal / Y. Chen [et al.] // J. Luminesc. – 2007. – Vol. 126. – P. 653–660.
9. Pujol, M.C. Linear thermal expansion tensor in KRE(WO4)2 (RE = Gd, Y, Er, Yb) monoclinic crystals / M.C. Pujol [et al.] // Mater. Sci. Forum. – 2001. – Vol. 378– 381. – P. 710–717.
10. Demidovich, A.A. Comparison of cw laser performance of Nd:KGW, Nd:YAG, Nd:BEL, and Nd:YVO4 under laser diode pumping / A.A. Demidovich [et al.] // Appl. Phys. B. – 1998. – Vol. 67. – P. 11–15.
11. Musset, O. Flashlamp-pumped Nd:KGW laser at repetition rates up to 50 Hz / O. Musset, O. Boquillon // Appl. Phys. B. – 1997. – Vol. 65. – P. 13–18.
Review
For citations:
Loiko P.A., Savitski V.G., Yumashev K.V., Kuleshov N.V., Pavlyuk A.A. THERMAL LENSING MEASUREMENTS IN THE ANISOTROPIC LASER CRYSTALS UNDER DIODE PUMPING. Devices and Methods of Measurements. 2012;(1):62-68.
Views:
815
Email this article 