Abstract
The surge of interest in ytterbium-doped materials has led to their being proposed as substitutes for their widely used neodymium counterparts for infrared laser emission. Spectroscopic and laser investigations of ytterbium-doped (Yb:GdCOB), a new ytterbium-doped crystal, are reported. Laser performances under titanium:sapphire pumping suggest that this material is suitable for schemes that include laser-diode pumping. A maximum slope efficiency of 58.8% with a corresponding laser threshold of 40 mW has been demonstrated with a 1% output coupler. Laser oscillations were also observed for output-coupler transmissions of as much as 10%. Self-frequency doubling of infrared-laser emission has been observed for the first time to our knowledge in an ytterbium-doped medium. The recent demonstration of the interesting self-frequency-doubling properties of neodymium-doped suggests that Yb:GdCOB could also be efficient in visible laser emission because of its lack of reabsorption at the second-harmonic wavelength. All these results show that the calcium oxoborate family can be useful compact and efficient laser-diode-pumped visible-laser sources.
© 1999 Optical Society of America
Full Article | PDF ArticleMore Like This
Frederika Augé, François Balembois, Patrick Georges, Alain Brun, Frédéric Mougel, Gérard Aka, Andrée Kahn-Harari, and Daniel Vivien
Appl. Opt. 38(6) 976-979 (1999)
Frédéric Druon, Frédérika Augé, François Balembois, Patrick Georges, Alain Brun, Astrid Aron, Frédéric Mougel, Gérard Aka, and Daniel Vivien
J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 17(1) 18-22 (2000)
F. Druon, F. Balembois, P. Georges, A. Brun, A. Courjaud, C. Hönninger, F. Salin, A. Aron, F. Mougel, G. Aka, and D. Vivien
Opt. Lett. 25(6) 423-425 (2000)