Abstract

Ho:Tm:YLF has a complicated physics associated with the pumping process and excitation dynamics. It is well known that in a Ho:Tm system the Tm absorbs pump energy and through a non-radiative process transfers energy to the active ion, Ho. A traditional 2-μm laser was operated at single pulse output per pump pulse.¹ We developed a Ho.Tnv.YLF 2-μm laser that operates in doublepulse fashion. A unique feature of this laser is that it provides two Q-switched pulses with a single pump pulse. The oscillator and amplifier modules were both transversely pumped by GaAlAs diode lasers. Two amplifiers form a chain to provide necessary gain to the probe beam in single pass amplification.

© 2002 Optical Society of America