We report on the investigation of a novel ceramic Tm:Lu₂O₃ amplifier lasing at around 2-μm and offering efficient generation of high-energy pulses with high-peak power at high repletion rate, high efficiency, and with near-diffraction-limited beam quality (BQ). The amplifier has a bandwidth of over 300 nm, which offers broad tunability. The bandwidth also supports generation of ultrashort pulses in the femtosecond regime. The “2-for-1” pump architecture of the Tm ion enables high optical-to-optical efficiency while pumping at around 800 nm. High thermal conductivity of the Lu₂O₃ host supports operation at high-average power. The ceramic nature of the Lu₂O₃ host overcomes the scalability limits of single crystal sesquioxides.

Date Published: 13 May 2016
PDF: 10 pages
Proc. SPIE 9834, Laser Technology for Defense and Security XII, 983407 (13 May 2016); doi: 10.1117/12.2224411

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 9834:
Laser Technology for Defense and Security XII
Mark Dubinskii; Stephen G. Post, Editor(s)