Resonantly diode-pumped Tm:YAG laser for efficient 2036 nm generation

Abstract We present a resonantly diode pumped Tm:YAG laser, operating at 2036 nm, wavelength-stabilized using a volume Bragg grating. This laser takes advantage of resonant diode pumping at 1.69 $${\upmu }$$ <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mml:mi>μ</mml:mi> </mml:math> m to achieve efficient emission in the high atmospheric transmission spectral region near 2 $${\upmu }$$ <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mml:mi>μ</mml:mi> </mml:math> m. Despite operation on the wing of the emission spectrum, an output power of up to 4.6 W was obtained with a slope efficiency of 49%. In a Q-switched regime, output pulses with an energy of 0.8 mJ and a duration of 360 ns were achieved with performance constrained by the chosen components. The results highlight the potential of compact resonantly diode-pumped 2 $${\upmu }$$ <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mml:mi>μ</mml:mi> </mml:math> m Tm $$^{3+}$$ <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mml:mmultiscripts> <mml:mrow/> <mml:mrow/> <mml:mrow> <mml:mn>3</mml:mn> <mml:mo>+</mml:mo> </mml:mrow> </mml:mmultiscripts> </mml:math> laser systems for applications requiring efficient wavelength-specific sources, such as LIDAR and atmospheric sensing.