The aim of the presented work was to design and characterize bulk Fe:ZnSe and Fe:Zn(1-x)Mg(x)Se (Mg content x = 0.19) lasers coherently pumped by electro-optically Q-switched Er:YSGG laser. This laser generated pumping radiation at 2.79 μm with the maximum energy of 50 mJ in 80 ns long pulse with the repetition-rate of 1 Hz. The 25 mm long optical resonator of Fe:ZnSe or Fe:ZnMgSe lasers was formed by a plan dichroic pumping mirror and a concave output coupler (r = 200 mm) with reflectivity 88 % @ 4-5 μm. Both lasers were operated at room temperature. Measured maximum output energy/slope efficiency in respect to the absorbed energy was ~ 3.8 mJ/42 % for the Fe:ZnSe laser and ~ 0.48 mJ/10 % for the Fe:ZnMgSe laser. The generated output pulse duration was 150 – 200 ns in both cases and the output beam spatial profile was approximately gaussian. The Fe:ZnSe and Fe:ZnMgSe lasers output spectra line-width was ~ 200 nm (FWHM) and their maxima were centered at 4.45 μm and 4.8 μm, respectively. The results were compared to pumping the same crystals by a Q-switched Er:YAG laser in similar conditions.

Date Published: 20 February 2015
PDF: 6 pages
Proc. SPIE 9342, Solid State Lasers XXIV: Technology and Devices, 93421V (20 February 2015); doi: 10.1117/12.2077466

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 9342:
Solid State Lasers XXIV: Technology and Devices
W. Andrew Clarkson; Ramesh K. Shori, Editor(s)