Abstract

Taking advantage of light-emitting-diode (LED) performance breakthrough driven by the lighting market, we report, to the best of our knowledge, the first LED-pumped chromium-doped crystal laser oscillator and amplifier based on alexandrite crystals (${\mathrm{Cr}}^{3+}\text{:}{\mathrm{BeAl}}_2{\mathrm{O}}_4$). We developed a Ce:YAG concentrator as the pumped source, illuminated by blue LEDs that can be easily power scaled. With 2200 LEDs (450 nm), the Ce:YAG concentrator can deliver to the gain medium up to 268 mJ at 10 Hz at 550 nm with a irradiance of $8.5\mathrm{kW}/{\mathrm{cm}}^2$. We demonstrate, in oscillator configuration, an LED-pumped alexandrite laser delivering an energy of 2.9 mJ at 748 nm in free running operation. In the cavity, we measured a double-pass small signal gain of 1.28, which is in good agreement with numerical simulations. As an amplifier, the system demonstrated to boost a CW Ti:sapphire laser by a factor of 4 at 750 nm in eight passes with a large tuning range from 710 nm to 800 nm.

© 2017 Optical Society of America

LED-pumped passively Q-switched Cr:LiSAF laser

Pierre Pichon, Frédéric Druon, Jean-Philippe Blanchot, François Balembois, and Patrick Georges
Opt. Lett. 43(18) 4489-4492 (2018)

LED-pumped Cr:LiSAF laser system operating at 100 Hz based on a multipass amplifier

Hussein Taleb, Catherine Le Blanc, Elio Thellier, Pierre Pichon, Frédéric Druon, François Balembois, and Patrick Georges
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Light-emitting diodes: a new paradigm for Ti:sapphire pumping

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LED-side-pumped Nd:YAG laser with >20% optical efficiency and the demonstration of an efficient passively Q-switched LED-pumped solid-state laser

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LED-pumped femtosecond Cr:LiSAF regenerative amplifier system

Hussein Taleb, Pierre Pichon, Frédéric Druon, François Balembois, and Patrick Georges
Opt. Lett. 46(10) 2421-2424 (2021)