Highly efficient, high-energy, picosecond, synchronously pumped Raman laser at 1171 and 1217 nm based on PbMoO4 crystals with single and combined Raman shifts

Abstract

For the first time to our knowledge, the operation of a synchronously pumped ultrafast Raman laser that uses a PbMoO₄ crystal as the active medium has been demonstrated. We achieved efficient Raman conversion in PbMoO₄ from pumping 1063 nm into 1171 and 1217 nm, respectively, at single and combined frequency shifts on stretching and bending Raman modes. The output pulse energy (up to 160 nJ) and peak power (up to 11 kW) of the output picosecond radiation is the highest among all-solid-state synchronously pumped Raman lasers published to date. The strongest pulse shortening at 1217 nm down to 1.4 ps was obtained that is close to the bending mode dephasing time.