Abstract

We report, to the best of our knowledge, the first use of KY(WO₄)₂ and KG(WO₄) acousto-optical $Q$-switches in 3-μm powerful lasers. $Q$-switches of two different designs (normal incidence with antireflection coatings, and Brewster-angle cut crystals) operate in lasers based on Er:YAG, Cr:Yb:Ho:YSGG, and Cr:Er:YSGG laser crystals. Gain and lifetime of laser crystals significantly influence the regime of $Q$-switched generation. Er:YAG and Cr:Yb:Ho:YSGG lasers deliver pulses with 10.8 mJ and 17.5 mJ energy, respectively. Pulses with energy of 29.6 mJ and duration of 75 ns in the ${\mathrm{TEM}}_{00}$ mode are obtained in a Cr:Er:YSGG laser. The energy is scaled up to 85.7 mJ in the two-stage master oscillator power amplifier system. Powerful laser systems of this kind are in the region of interest for pumping other mid-IR laser media (e.g., Fe:ZnSe and Fe:CdSe), OPOs, ${\mathrm{CO}}_2$ lasers, and amplifiers. Preliminary experiments on microstructuring of transparent materials by the laser-induced backside wet etching method demonstrate the potential of such lasers to build the foundation for dye-free tissue and cell engineering concepts.

© 2019 Optical Society of America

3.5-mJ 150-fs Fe:ZnSe hybrid mid-IR femtosecond laser at 4.4  μm for driving extreme nonlinear optics

Ekaterina Migal, Andrey Pushkin, Boris Bravy, Vyacheslav Gordienko, Nikita Minaev, Anatoly Sirotkin, and Fedor Potemkin
Opt. Lett. 44(10) 2550-2553 (2019)

High-efficiency KYW acousto-optic Q-switch for a Ho:YAG laser

Alexander I. Chizhikov, Aleksey V. Mukhin, Nikolay A. Egorov, Vasily V. Gurov, Vladimir Y. Molchanov, Natalya F. Naumenko, Konstantin V. Vorontsov, Konstantin B. Yushkov, and Nikita G. Zakharov
Opt. Lett. 47(5) 1085-1088 (2022)

2.79-µm efficient acousto-optic Q switched Er,Cr:YSGG laser with an LiNbO₃ crystal modulator

Ling-Ling Jiang, Zhong-Chao Wu, Ting-Qing Cheng, and HaiHe Jiang
Opt. Lett. 47(23) 6193-6196 (2022)

High-efficiency high-repetition-rate gain-switched operation around 3 μm in Cr²⁺:CdSe single-crystal laser pumped by fiber-laser-pumped Ho³⁺:YAG laser

Oleg L. Antipov, Ilya D. Eranov, Mikhail P. Frolov, Yuri V. Korostelin, Vladimir I. Kozlovsky, and Yan K. Skasyrsky
Opt. Lett. 44(5) 1285-1288 (2019)

2.79  μm high peak power LGS electro-optically Q-switched Cr,Er:YSGG laser

Li Wang, Jintao Wang, Jingwei Yang, Xianyou Wu, Dunlu Sun, Shaotang Yin, Haihe Jiang, Jiyang Wang, and Changqing Xu
Opt. Lett. 38(12) 2150-2152 (2013)