Dual-end-pumped high-power Cr2+:ZnS passively Q-switched Ho:YAG ceramic laser

• DOI: 10.1007/s00340-015-6086-0
• Publication Date: 2015-04-03T06:03:52Z
• Authors: J. H. Yuan; X. M. Duan; B. Q. Yao; J. Li; Z. Cui; Y. J. Shen; T. Y. Dai; Y. L. Ju; C. Y. Li; H. M. Kou; Y. B. Pan
• Keywords: 0202 electrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineering; 02 engineering and technology

We demonstrated a high-power dual-end-pumped passively Q-switched Ho:YAG ceramic laser with a Cr2+:ZnS saturable absorber (SA). The influence of the beam diameter on SA on the Q-switched laser performance was investigated. Up to 30.3 W average output power was obtained, to our best knowledge, which is the highest average output power obtained in a Ho-doped passively Q-switched laser. The maximum pulse energy and peak power of 0.94 mJ and 33.5 kW were achieved, when the Cr2+:ZnS SA was placed far from the laser beam waist, corresponding to a pulse width of 28 ns and a pulse repetition frequency of 28.8 kHz. In addition, we achieved the highest output power of 40.4 W from continuous-wave Ho:YAG ceramic laser.