Abstract

High-average-power lasers operating in the 1590-nm eye-safe region of the spectrum are desired for remote-sensing applications. Although systems using Er;Yb:glass and operating at 1550 nm exist, they are limited in average power by the thermal problems of the glass host due in part to the nonradiative decay from ⁴I_11/2 to ⁴I_13/2. This problem can be overcome by using a crystalline host with a small phonon energy, such as YLF, and cascade lasing from ⁴I_11/2 to ⁴I_13/2

© 1995 Optical Society of America