Title

1.047-Μm Yb:Sr5(Po4)3F Energy Storage Optical Amplifier

Abstract

The pumping and gain properties of Yb3+-doped Sr5(PO4)3F (Yb:S-FAP) are reported. Using a tunable, free running 900-nm Cr:LiSAF oscillator as a pump source for a Yb:S-FAP rod, the saturation fluence for pumping was measured to be 2.2 J/cm2 based on either the spatial, temporal, or energy transmission properties of the Yb:S-FAP rod. The emission peak of Yb:S-FAP (1047.5 nm in air) is shown to overlap with that of Nd:YLiF4 (Nd:YLF) to within 0.1 nm, rendering Yb:S-FAP suitable as an effective power amplifier for Nd:YLF oscillators. The small signal gain, under varying pumping conditions, was measured with a cw Nd:YLF probe laser. These measurements implied emission cross sections of 6.0 × 10–20 and 1.5 × 10–20 cm2 for π and σ polarized light, respectively, which fall within the error limits of the previously reported values of 7.3 × 10–20 and 1.4 × 10–20 cm2 for π and σ polarized light, obtained from purely spectroscopic techniques. The effects of radiation trapping on the emission lifetime have been quantified and have been shown to lead to emission lifetimes as long as 1.7 ms, for large optically dense crystals. This is substantially larger than the measured intrinsic lifetime of 1.10 ms. Yb:S-FAP crystal boules up to 25 × 25 × 175 mm in size, which were grown for the above experiments and were found to have acceptable loss characteristics (2 at 3 ns). Overall, diode-pumped Yb:S-FAP amplifiers are anticipated to offer a viable means of amplifying 1.047-μm light, and may be particularly well suited to applications sensitive to overall laser efficiencies, such as inertial confinement fusion energy applications. © 1995 IEEE

Publication Date

1-1-1995

Publication Title

IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Quantum Electronics

Volume

1

Issue

1

Number of Pages

67-77

Document Type

Article

Personal Identifier

scopus

DOI Link

https://doi.org/10.1109/2944.468369

Socpus ID

0029288676 (Scopus)

Source API URL

https://api.elsevier.com/content/abstract/scopus_id/0029288676

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