Highly-efficient mid-infrared CW laser operation in a lightly-doped 3 at.% Er:SrF2 single crystal

Liangbi Su; Xinsheng Guo; Dapeng Jiang; Qinghui Wu; Zhipeng Qin; Guoqiang Xie

doi:10.1364/OE.26.005558

Highly-efficient mid-infrared CW laser operation in a lightly-doped 3 at.% Er:SrF₂ single crystal

Opt Express. 2018 Mar 5;26(5):5558-5563. doi: 10.1364/OE.26.005558.

Authors

Liangbi Su, Xinsheng Guo, Dapeng Jiang, Qinghui Wu, Zhipeng Qin, Guoqiang Xie

PMID: 29529758
DOI: 10.1364/OE.26.005558

Abstract

3 at.% Er:SrF₂ laser crystals with high optical quality were successfully grown using the temperature gradient technique (TGT). The intense mid-infrared emission was observed around 2.7 μm with excitation by a 970 nm LD. Based on the Judd-Ofelt theory, the emission cross-sections of the ⁴I_13/2-⁴I_11/2 transition were calculated by using the Fuchtbauer-Ladenburg (FL) method. Efficient continuous-wave laser operation at 2.8 µm was achieved with the lightly-doped 3 at.% Er:SrF₂ crystal pumped by a 970 nm laser diode. The laser output power reached up to 1.06 W with a maximum slope efficiency of 26%.