Experimental analysis of emission linewidth narrowing in a pulsed KGd(WO4)2 Raman laser

The linewidth of a KGd(WO4)2 (KGW) intracavity pumped Raman laser is analyzed experimentally for different configurations of the Raman and pump laser resonators: with narrow and broadband pump emission profiles, with and without linewidth narrowing elements in the Raman laser resonator, with and without injection seeding into the Raman cavity. The benefits of a narrow linewidth pump source in combination with linewidth narrowing elements in the Raman laser cavity for the efficient linewidth narrowing of the Raman laser emission are explained. 20 kW peak-power pulses at 1156 nm with 0.43 cm-1 emission linewidth are demonstrated from an injection seeded KGW Raman laser

Steady-state Raman gain in diamond as a function of pump wavelength

The variation in the Raman gain coefficient in single-crystal diamond for pump wavelengths between 355 and 1450 nm is measured. Two techniques are used: a pump-probe approach giving an absolute measurement and a stimulated Raman oscillation threshold technique giving a relative measurement. Both approaches indicate that the Raman gain coefficient is a linear function of pump wavenumber. With the pump polarized along a direction in the crystal, the Raman gain coefficient measured by the pump-probe technique is found to vary from 7.6 +/- 0.8 for a pump wavelength of 1280 nm to 78 +/- 8 cm/GW for a pump wavelength of 355 nm. With the established dependence of the Raman gain coefficient on the pump wavelength, the Raman gain coefficient can be estimated at any pump wavelength within the spectral range from 355 up to 1450 nm

Optical trapping with "on-demand" two-photon luminescence using Cr:LiSAF laser with optically addressed saturable Bragg reflector

We demonstrate a diode-pumped Cr:LiSAF laser with controllable and reliable fast switching between its continuous-wave and mode-locked states of operation using an optically-addressed semiconductor Bragg reflector, permitting dyed microspheres to be continuously trapped and monitored using a standard microscope imaging and on-demand two-photon-excited luminescence techniques

Intracavity Raman conversion of a red semiconductor disk laser using diamond

We demonstrate a diamond Raman laser intracavity-pumped by a red semiconductor disk laser (~675 nm) for laser emission at around 740 nm. Output power up to 82 mW of the Stokes-shifted field was achieved, limited by the available pump power, with an output coupling of 1.5%. We also report wavelength tuning of the diamond Raman laser over 736 - 750 nm

1.6 W continuous-wave Raman laser using low-loss synthetic diamond

Low-birefringence (Δn<2x10−6), low-loss (absorption coefficient <0.006cm−1 at 1064nm), single-crystal, synthetic diamond has been exploited in a CW Raman laser. The diamond Raman laser was intracavity pumped within a Nd:YVO4 laser. At the Raman laser wavelength of 1240nm, CW output powers of 1.6W and a slope efficiency with respect to the absorbed diode-laser pump power (at 808nm) of ~18% were measured. In quasi-CW operation, maximum on-time output powers of 2.8W (slope efficiency ~24%) were observed, resulting in an absorbed diode-laser pump power to the Raman laser output power conversion efficiency of 13%

Large radius of curvature micro-lenses on single crystal diamond for application in monolithic diamond Raman lasers

The design and fabrication of large radii of curvature micro-lenses in single crystal chemical vapour deposition diamond is described. An optimised photoresist reflow process and low selectivity inductively coupled plasma etching are used to actualize a uniform array of micro-lenses with radii of curvature of 13 mm or more and a high quality surface of a root-mean-square roughness of 0.18 nm. The processes developed have the potential to achieve diamond micro-lenses with an even larger radius of curvature. These new diamond micro-lenses enable the pulse energy scalable monolithic diamond Raman laser where a large radius of curvature of the micro-lenses is critical

Femtosecond frequency conversion in diamond under gaussian and bessel beam pumping

Diamond Raman lasers (DRLs) have been the subject of extensive research in the recent years. Continuous-wave and pulsed, intra- and extra-cavity DRLs emitting from UV to IR have been demonstrated [1]. The majority of these studies were carried out in the steady-state mode, when the pump pulse duration is longer than the dephasing time in diamond. Less work has been done on the transient mode, when the pulse duration is shorter than the dephasing time: DRLs under femtosecond (fs) pumping in synchronously-pumped cavities has been demonstrated [2], and supercontinuum (SC) generation in diamond under fs pumping has been reported [3]. The major mechanism for SC generation under fs laser pumping is believed to be self-phase modulation (SPM). It has been shown before that this effect can be significantly reduced when using the Bessel beam pumping. In this work we present a first comparison study of the effect of Gaussian and Bessel pump beams on the spectral properties of nonlinear frequency conversion in diamond in transient mode

Laser spectroscopy of NV- and NV0 colour centres in synthetic diamond

In this paper, we analyse the prospects for using nitrogen-vacancy centre (NV) containing diamond as a laser gain material by measuring its key laser related parameters. Synthetic chemical vapour deposition grown diamond samples with an NV concentration of ~1 ppm have been selected because of their relatively high NV concentration and low background absorption in comparison to other samples available to us. For the samples measured, the luminescence lifetimes of the NV- and NV0 centres were measured to be 8±1 ns and 20±1 ns respectively. The respective peak stimulated emission cross-sections were (3.6±0.1)×10-17 cm2 and (1.7±0.1)×10-17 cm2. These measurements were combined with absorption measurements to calculate the gain spectra for NV- and NV0 for differing inversion levels. Such calculations indicate that gains approaching those required for laser operation may be possible with one of the samples tested and for the NV- centre

Energy scaling of yellow emission from monolithic diamond Raman lasers

Recent advances in the growth of low loss single crystal diamond [1] coupled with its high Raman gain and high thermal conductivity have led to the material becoming an established Raman laser material. With applications often having to adapt to available laser wavelengths, Raman lasers can be used as a simple means to shift ubiquitous commercial laser sources to the hard to reach but application rich spectral regions. The authors recently demonstrated a compact, robust monolithic diamond Raman laser shifting 20μJ nanosecond pulses from a Q-switched 532nm laser to Raman wavelengths of 573nm, 620nm and 676nm with a conversion efficiency of 84%. This work investigates the energy scalability of such a system

Energy scaling, second Stokes oscillation and Raman gain-guiding in monolithic diamond Raman lasers

Energy scaling of the 1st Stokes oscillation is compared in micro-lensed and plane-plane monolithic diamond Raman lasers under 532 nm pumping. A maximum Raman pulse energy of 92 µJ at 573 nm was achieved with the micro-lensed device, while in a plane-plane configuration the maximum Raman pulse energy was 3.1 mJ. 2nd Stokes generation at 620 nm in 2 and 1 mm long micro-lensed monolithic diamond Raman lasers is also reported. The best conversion efficiency from the pump at 532 nm, namely 63 %, was observed in a 2 mm long crystal at the pump pulse intensity of 4.5 GW/cm2. By measuring the output Raman laser beam caustic it was found that the 2nd Stokes intracavity beam radius at the output coupler of the micro-lensed device is at least two times smaller than that expected from the ABCD matrix calculations of the resonator mode. A Raman gain-guiding mechanism is suggested to explain this difference