Abstract

Recently, lasers operating in the eye-safe wavelength around 1.5 μm have found increasing demand in the laser radar (LIDAR). Raman laser pumped by well established lasers such as Nd:YAG lasers is a favorable candidate with such characteristics at high repetition rate, narrow linewidth, and good beam quality.¹ As the Raman conversion medium, a Ba(NO₃)₂ crystal has attracted much attention because of its high gain and strong mechanical properties.² Laser output in the eye-safe wavelength region can be obtained with the Ba(NO₃)₂ crystal either in a first Stokes line pumped by 1.3 μm Nd:YAG laser², or in a third Stokes line pumped by 1.06 μm Nd:YAG laser³. When the Raman crystal exhibits substantial residual absorption in the pump or Stokes wavelength, these solid-state Raman lasers require some thermal management to scale up to high average power systems such as in LIDAR. Hence, we experimentally studied the thermal characteristics of the Ba(NO₃)₂ cascade Raman conversion process.

© 1997 Optical Society of America