The goal of this work was an investigation of the temperature influence (in range 77 - 300 K) on laser properties of Tm:SrF₂-CaF₂ solid-solution, which is suitable as a gain medium for generation of radiation at 1.8-2 μm. The tested Tm:SrF₂-CaF₂ sample (60 mol% CaF₂, 38 mol% SrF₂) was doped with 2 mol% of TmF₃. The diameter of the grown boule was 10 mm. The sample was cut and optically polished parallel to growing axis. The polished sample thickness was 8.5 mm. It was fixed in temperature controlled cupreous holder, placed inside vacuum chamber of the liquid nitrogen cryostat. A fiber coupled laser diode, operating in pulsed regime (10 ms pulse length, 10 Hz repetition rate) at wavelength 764 nm, was used for longitudinal sample pumping. The 142mm long semi-hemispherical laser cavity consisted of at pumping mirror (HR @ 1:8 - 2:0 μm, HT @ 0.77 μm) and curved (r = 150mm) output coupler with a reflectivity of ~ 92% @ 1:8 - 2:0 μm. From the results it follows that the temperature of the active medium has a strong infkuence on laser slope efficiency. The highest slope efficiency (42% in respect to absorbed power), obtained for temperature 77 K, was more than five times higher than slope efficiency for 300 K. The threshold decreased twice with the temperature lowering from 300 to 77 K. Laser output power amplitude 5.5W at wavelength 1856nm was reached for absorbed power 15.8W at 77 K.

Date Published: 17 February 2017
PDF: 7 pages
Proc. SPIE 10082, Solid State Lasers XXVI: Technology and Devices, 1008221 (17 February 2017); doi: 10.1117/12.2251973

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 10082:
Solid State Lasers XXVI: Technology and Devices
W. Andrew Clarkson; Ramesh K. Shori, Editor(s)