A tunable single-longitudinal-mode wedge Nd:YVO 4 laser with a YVO 4 wave-plate
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A tunable single‑longitudinal‑mode wedge Nd:YVO4 laser with a YVO4 wave‑plate Zhihong Gao1 · Wenxi Zhang2,3 · Boxia Yan2 · Xinxin Kong2 · Yashuai Zhao2 · Zhou Wu2,3 · Xiaoli Guo2 · Qibo Feng1 Received: 17 February 2020 / Accepted: 17 September 2020 © Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2020
Abstract We report a tunable single-longitudinal-mode laser based on a wedged Nd:YVO4 gain medium and a Y VO4 wave-plate. By taking advantage of the natural birefringence of YVO4 and adopting different cutting methods, a wedged Nd:YVO4 crystal acts as an ideal polarizer by the alignment sensitivity of the optical resonator, and a Y VO4 crystal is used as a wave-plate by adjusting the temperature. A theoretical analysis of the single- longitudinal-mode operation of such a laser configuration is presented. The wavelength can be continuously tuned by the temperature at approximately 0.025 nm/°C, and the temperature tuning ranges of single-longitudinal-mode operation at pump powers of 1 W and 2 W are from 12 °C to 30 °C and from 11 °C to 26 °C, respectively. The maximum single-longitudinal-mode output power with linear polarization is 762 mW at a pump power of 2.2 W with a slope efficiency of 40%.
1 Introduction Diode-pumped solid-state single-longitudinal-mode (SLM) lasers are of interest in many applications including high resolution spectroscopy [1], precise interferometry [2], as seed lasers in the fiber amplifiers [3] and in the all-solidstate amplifiers [4]. These applications require SLM laser with compact structure, low cost, and high immunity to environmental hazards. In addition, for spectroscopy and precise interferometry applications, a precise wavelength control of the SLM laser is needed, which is why tuning of the laser wavelength is also a desirable feature. To achieve a tunable and miniature SLM laser several methods have been developed. A microchip laser [5] with an ultra-short cavity (≈ 500 μm) can ensure SLM operation and wavelength tuning, but the output power is limited by the thinness of Communicated by Dieter Meschede. * Wenxi Zhang [email protected] 1
School of Science, Beijing Jiaotong University, No. 3 Shangyuancun, Beijing 100044, China
2
Academy of Opto‑Electronics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, No. 9 DengZhuang South Road, Beijing 100094, China
3
University of Chinese Academy of Science, Beijing 100049, China
the gain medium. A monolithic Bragg-locked laser [6] requires precision machining. Inserting an intra-cavity etalon [7] necessitates meticulous angular adjustment and is not cost-effective in low-power application. Another way to meet the desired laser specifications is to use a travellingwave ring-cavity, such as a nonplanar ring oscillator [8], but this requires a complex gain crystal cutting and an external magnetic field to reinforce unidirectional oscillation. Furthermore, SLM operation can also be obtained in a laser configuration with a birefringent filter. A typical birefringent filter consists of a Brewster-plate as a polarization
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