Abstract

The most commonly used crystal architecture to produce 2µm laser is co-doping Ho and Tm into a single host crystal. In this method, the stored energy transfer from the Tm ³F₄ to the Ho ⁵I₇ manifold is not fast enough to warrant high efficiency for short pulse applications. By separating the Ho and the Tm ions and doping the Tm in YALO₃ and the Ho in YLF, we were able to directly pump the Ho ⁵I7 manifold with 1.94µm. The Ho:YLF laser has produced 33 mJ at 2.062 µm with a quantum efficiency of 0.88. The performance of each laser will be presented.

© 2000 Optical Society of America