Current Optics and Photonics ISSN: 2508-7266(Print) / ISSN: 2508-7274(Online)

Vol. 4, No. 3, June 2020, pp. 238-246 DOI: https://doi.org/10.3807/COPP.2020.4.3.238

Pulsed-laser-diode Intermittently Pumped 2-µm Acousto-optic Q-switched

Tm:LuAG Laser

Ya Wen1, Yan Jiang2, Hao Zheng1, Hongliang Zhang1, Chao Wang1,

Chunting Wu1, and Guangyong Jin1*
1
Jilin Key Laboratory of Solid Laser Technology and Application, College of Science,
Changchun University of Science and Technology, Changchun 130022, China
2
Sichuan Aerospace Fenghuo Servo Control Technology Corporation, Chengdu 611130, China

(Received October 17, 2019 : revised January 16, 2020 : accepted April 10, 2020)

The heat distribution in crystals in a 2-µm acousto-optic Q-switched Tm:LuAG laser pumped by
pulsed-laser-diode (pulsed-LD) intermittent-pumping technology was analyzed using COMSOL software.
The thermal lensing effect of the Tm:LuAG crystal can be mitigated by pulsed-LD intermittent-pumping
techniques. An experimental setup using this kind of approach achieved maximum output energy of 8.31
mJ, minimum pulse width of 101.9 ns, and highest peak power of 81.55 kW, reached at a Q-switched
repetition rate of 200 Hz. It offers significant improvement of performance of the output laser beam,
compared to pulsed-LD double-ended pumping technology at the same repetition rate.

Keywords : Tm:LuAG laser, Q-switched, Pulse-diode, Intermittent-pumped

OCIS codes : (140.3480) Lasers, diode-pumped; (140.3540) Lasers, Q-switched; (140.3580) Lasers,
solid-state; (140.6810) Thermal effects

I. INTRODUCTION crystal to obtain an output laser whose center wavelength

There are different applications of single-doped Tm3+
lasers with high repetition frequency and high single-pulse
energy in the 2-µm band [1-4]. Using a 2-µm solid-state
laser system as the transmitter, coherent Doppler lidar can
provide accurate wind field data for global numerical
climate forecasts, to prevent and resist weather disasters;
2-µm-laser differential-absorption lidar can realize real-time
monitoring of CO2 gas concentration, aerosol, moisture,
ozone, and temperature in a local environment; and, using a
2-µm laser in surgery, the scale of the wound is relatively
small [5-8], as Tm:LuAG has an emission peak at 2.023
µm, which is far from the absorption peak of water, and
moreover its lower level is at the higher Stark-split sublevel
of the 3H6 energy level, and the heat load is lower. It can
better realize large pulse energy and long pulse width
output and improve the application value of 2 µm laser.
In 1995, Barnes et al. [9] used a diode-pumped Tm:LuAG
was 2.0238 µm. In 2000, Sudesh et al. [10] used a flat
cavity structure to obtain an output laser with a power of
1 mJ. In 2012, Chen et al. [11] made an annular-cavity-
structure end-pumped Tm:LuAG crystal in the acousto-optic
Q-switched regime to obtain a maximum output energy of
3.3 mJ and slope efficiency of 8.4%, when the repetition
frequency was 20 Hz and the pulse width was 199 ns. In
another case of repetition frequency 50 Hz and pulse
width 293 ns, the maximum output energy was 1.8 mJ and
the slope efficiency 6.7%, and the beam quality factor was
M2 < 1.4. In 2014, Wu et al. [12] achieved a maximum
output energy of 41 mJ with a slope efficiency of 20.8%
by using the annular-cavity-structure end-pumped Tm:LuAG
laser substrate, when the pump energy was 300 mJ and the
pulse build-up time 2.76 ms, with a beam quality factor
M2 = 1.17. In 2015, Feng et al. [13] put a LD-pumped
Tm:LuAG crystal in a passively Q-switched straight cavity
structure to achieve laser output with maximum-energy

*Corresponding author: jgycust@163.com, ORCID 0000-0002-0937-7248

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- 238 -
Pulsed-laser-diode Intermittently Pumped 2-µm Acousto-optic Q-switched … - Ya Wen et al.
output power of 4.42 W and beam quality factor M2 ≤ 1.45,
with a slope efficiency of 49.5%; the repetition frequency
was 88.2 kHz, the shortest pulse was 405 ns at wavelength
2.021 µm, and the maximum single-pulse energy was 40.6
µJ at wavelength of 2.020 µm. In 2016, Zhang et al. [14]
reported an electro-optical Q-switched Tm:LuAG laser with
average power of 1.22 W, maximum power of 4.1 kW,
slope efficiency of 6%, and beam quality factor M2 ~ 1.4
by cavity dumping, when the repetition frequency was 100
kHz. In 2017, Zhou et al. [15] reported a diode-pumped
Tm:LuAG ceramic laser in passive Q-switching by using a
Cr:ZnSe saturable absorber to obtain a 2-µm laser, when
the repetition frequency was 13.02 kHz, the output power
up to 1.06 W, the slope efficiency 16.1%, the single-pulse
energy 81.4 µJ, and the narrowest pulse width 277 ns. In
2018, Song et al. [16] reported a 790-nm pumped Tm:LuAG
laser in passive Q-switching with the Cr:ZnSe saturable
absorber, to obtain average output power of 0.53 W, slope
efficiency 28.9%, shortest pulse width 54.3 ns, and single-
pulse energy 21.9 µJ.
From the above research, an acousto-optic Q-switch,
electro-optic Q-switch, or passive Q-switch could be used
to obtain pulsed output from a Tm:LuAG laser with high
repetition rate, but the output energy was low. It is
determined that the optimum repetition frequency of the
crystal is about 100 Hz, because the upper-level lifetime
of Tm:LuAG crystal is 11.9 ms. The serious thermal effect
in Tm:LuAG crystal is another important factor to restrict
its high energy output. In 2018, we reported [17] a
pulsed-diode intermittently pumped 2-µm acousto-optically
Q-switched Tm:YAG laser. When the pump energy was
86.2 mJ and the Q-switched repetition rate 200 Hz, the
maximum output energy was 6.83 mJ and the minimum
pulse width 367.7 ns. The beam quality factor Mx2 = 1.48
and My2 = 1.59. However, compared to the center wavelength
for Tm:YAG crystal of about 2014 nm (2006~2024 nm),
the center wavelength for Tm:LuAG crystal of about 2020
nm (2015~2035 nm) moves in the long-wave direction by
nearly 10 nm, which is much closer to the effective
wavelength of lidar. Therefore, the pulsed Tm:LuAG laser
has more advantages for airborne laser radar.
In this paper, the pulsed-LD intermittent-pumping
technology was used. It can not only increase the working
time of the Tm3+-doped laser medium, but also alleviate
the thermal effect in the medium, especially under the
conditions of acousto-optic Q-switched operation. Finally,
the single-pulse output energy was 8.32 mJ and the peak
power was 81.55 kW when the repetition frequency was
200 Hz.
II. ANALYSIS OF Tm:LuAG
THERMAL-LENS EFFECT
In this paper, two fiber-coupled pulsed LDs, a Q switch,
and a laser crystal were used. The pulse repetition frequency
239
FIG. 1. The timing diagram for pulsed-LD double-ended
pumping.
FIG. 2. The timing diagram for pulsed-LD double-ended
intermittent pumping.
of two LDs was set at 100 Hz, while the repetition
frequency of the Q switch was set at 100 Hz and 200 Hz,
under two different pumping methods. The timing diagram
for the pulsed-LD double-ended-pumping method is shown
in Fig. 1. Two pulsed LDs double-end-pump the Tm:LuAG
crystal at the same time. The crystal is in the state of being
pumped and stopped at the same time. The timing diagram
for the pulsed-LD double-ended-intermittent-pumping method
is shown in Fig. 2. Scheduled control of the pulsed LDs
and Q switch is realized by an external starting device.
The duty cycle of the pulsed LD is 50%. When LD1 is
pumped, LD2 stops; when LD2 is pumped, LD1 stops. LD1
and LD2 maintain an intermittent pumping mode, making
the crystal be always in the working state. As each end of
the crystal has enough time for heat dissipation to alleviate
the thermal deposition, not only can it obtain high output
energy at a repetition rate of 100 Hz, but it can also make
the thulium-doped pulsed laser maintain excellent output
performance at a repetition frequency of 200 Hz, as long as
the opening time of the Q switch is appropriately controlled.
A model of a pulsed-LD double-end-pumped double-end-
bonded Tm:LuAG crystal is established, as shown in Fig. 3.
In Fig. 3, r and z are the radial and axial coordinates
respectively, b is the radius of the Tm:LuAG crystal, L is
the length of the doped part of the Tm:LuAG crystal, and
a is the length of the undoped part of the crystal. The
pumping light will not be absorbed by the undoped part.
The pumping-light beams from the two pulsed LDs are
incident upon the two bonding faces of the rod along the
z axis respectively.
240 Current Optics and Photonics, Vol. 4, No. 3, June 2020

TABLE 1. Parameters used in simulations

Parameter Value
Laser Diode 1 and Laser Diode 2 emission
788
wavelength (nm)
Cooling temperature (℃) 15
Room temperature (℃) 22
-2 -1
Heat-transfer coefficient of air (W cm K ) 5 × 10-5
-1
Absorption coefficient of 3 at.% Tm:LuAG (cm ) 4.36
FIG. 3. The illustration of double-ended bonding Tm:LuAG
crystal model double-ended pumped by pulsed LD. Pump-beam waist (µm) 400
Crystal radius (mm) 1.5
The beam of pumping light incident upon the bonding Tm:LuAG crystal length (mm) 25
surface of the rod has a Gaussian intensity distribution Poisson ratio 0.3
Thermo-optical coefficient (dn/dT) (℃-1) 6 × 10-6
 r r , a, t 2 
I r , a, t   I 0 exp  2 G t  . (1) Refractive index of Tm:LuAG 1.81
 2  -1 -1
Heat conductivity of Tm:LuAG (W cm K ) 7.94 × 10-2
Thermal-expansion coefficient (℃-1) 7.1 × 10-6
The pumping light incident upon the other bonding
surface of the rod has its own Gaussian distribution

G t   square2ft , T   1 2 , (2)

 r r , L  a, t 2 
I r , L  a, t   I 0 exp  2 G t  , (3)
 2 

where G t  is the time-envelope function describing the

pumping pulse, square is the rectangular square-wave
function, f is the pumping frequency, t is time, and  T is
the duty cycle.
The double-end-bonded Tm:LuAG crystal has an
absorption coefficient for pumping light of  . According
to the Beer-Lambert Law, the light intensity at the z of the
double-ended Tm:LuAG crystal is FIG. 4. The Gaussian intensity distribution in a double-end-
bonded Tm:LuAG crystal under pulsed-LD double-end
2P  r2  pumping.
I r , z , t   2
exp  2 2 
   
(4) The single-pulse energy on each end of the crystal is 75
G t exp   z  a   exp  L  a  z 
mJ, the repetition frequency is 100 Hz, the pulse width is
a  z  L  a ,  b  r  b. 5 ms, and the pulse pumped time is 10 s. Under those
conditions, the light-field distribution in the double-ended
The heat-source distribution of the pulsed Gaussian Tm:LuAG crystal is simulated in Fig. 4.
pumping light in the crystal is Considering that the undoped and doped parts of the
double-end-bonded Tm:LuAG crystal have different thermal
2 P  r2  conductivities, and there is heat conduction between the
q v r , z , t    I r , z , t   exp  2 2 
 2
   (5) two parts, the side of the crystal is water-cooled and kept
at a constant temperature; the two sides of the crystal rod
G t exp   z  a   exp  L  a  z , have heat exchange with the air.
The heat-transfer equation, boundary conditions, and initial
where  is the heat-conversion coefficient. conditions of the Tm:LuAG crystal in the temperature-rise
The parameters of the Tm:LuAG crystal are shown in period are, respectively,
Table 1.
Pulsed-laser-diode Intermittently Pumped 2-µm Acousto-optic Q-switched … - Ya Wen et al. 241

T1   2T 1 T1  2T1  T2   2T 1 T2  2T2 

c  k  21     qv c  k  22   2 
t  r r r z 2  (6) t  r r r z  (11)
0  t   0  z  L  2a ,   t  T 0  z  L  2a ,

T1  Tw , r b 0  z  L  2a , (7) T2  Tw , r b 0  z  L  2a , (12)

T1 T2
k  hT1  hTe z  0, (8) k  hT2  hTe z 0, (13)
z z

T1 T2
k  hT1  hTe z  L  2a , (9) k  hT2  hTe z  L  2a , (14)
z z

and and

T1  T0 , t  0, 0  z  L  2a , (10) T2 r , z , t  t   T1 r , z ,  . (15)

where  is the crystal density, c is the specific heat
capacity of the crystal, h is the heat-transfer coefficient, k
is the thermal conductivity of the crystal, Tw is the water-
cooling temperature, Te is the initial temperature of the
crystal, and T0 is room temperature.
The heat-transfer equation, boundary conditions, and initial
conditions of the Tm:LuAG crystal in temperature-fall period
are, respectively,
In the case when the repetition frequency is 100 Hz,
pulse width is 5 ms, the pulse is pumped for 10 s, and the
single-ended single-pulse energy takes values of 25, 55,
75, 100, 125, and 150 mJ, the center temperatures in the
bonding surfaces of the double-end-bonded Tm:LuAG crystal
double-end-pumped by a pulsed LD are shown in Fig. 5.
In another case where the repetition frequency is 100 Hz,
the pulse width is 5 ms, the pulse is pumping for 10 s, and

(a) (b) (c)

(d) (e) (f)

FIG. 5. The distributions of temperatures in a Tm:LuAG crystal double-end-pumped by a pulsed LD: (a) 25 mJ, (b) 55 mJ, (c) 75 mJ,
(d) 100 mJ, (e) 125 mJ, (f) 150 mJ.
242 Current Optics and Photonics, Vol. 4, No. 3, June 2020

the single-ended single-pulse energy takes values of 25, 55, With the increase of pump energy, due to the crystal being
75, 100, 125, and 150 mJ, the center temperatures in the intermittently pumped, the crystal is heated more evenly
bonding surfaces of the double-end-bonded Tm:LuAG crystal and the crystal temperature is changed smoothly. This
intermittently pumped by a pulsed LD are shown in Fig. 6. intermittent-pumping technology can be applied to pump
It is obvious from Figs. 5 and 6 that the temperatures in with larger energy, and the greater the pump energy, the
the bonding surfaces of the double-end-bonded Tm:LuAG more significant the improvement that can be achieved. It is
crystal gradually decrease along the radius outward, and beneficial to alleviate the thermal-lens effect of the crystal,
the temperatures at the edge of the crystal are constant,
which are 15°C, the same as the water-cooling temperature.
From Fig. 5, when the double-end bonded Tm:LuAG
crystal double-end pumped by the pulsed LD has a
quasi-thermal-equilibrium state, the maximum temperature
of the crystal increases with increasing pump energy, and
its locations move from 6.7 and 13.4 mm to 6.9 and 13.1
mm respectively, with maximum temperatures 293.47 to
321.51 K. From Fig. 6, the double-end-bonded Tm:LuAG
crystal double-end-intermittently-pumped by the pulsed LD
has a quasi-thermal-equilibrium state, and the maximum
temperatures of the crystal also increase with increasing
pump energy. Its locations of maximum temperatures move
from 6.2 and 13.1 mm to 6.5 and 12.8 mm respectively,
and the highest temperatures are 288.71 to 309.41 K.
Figure 7 shows that the intermittent-pumping method can
alleviate the maximum temperatures in the crystal, and make FIG. 7. Tm:LuAG-crystal temperature versus input energy
the temperature distribution of the crystal more uniform. curve.

(a) (b) (c)

(d) (e) (f)

FIG. 6. The distributions of temperatures in a Tm:LuAG crystal intermittently double-end-pumped by a pulsed LD: (a) 25 mJ, (b) 55
mJ, (c) 75 mJ, (d) 100 mJ, (e) 125 mJ, (f) 150 mJ.
Pulsed-laser-diode Intermittently Pumped 2-µm Acousto-optic Q-switched … - Ya Wen et al.
because the crystal is evenly heated, which makes the laser
more stable.
III. EXPERIMENTAL SETUP
The experimental configuration of the acousto-optic
Q-switched Tm:LuAG laser double-end-intermittently-pumped
by pulsed LDs is shown in Fig. 8.
Two fiber-coupled pulsed lasers (LD1 and LD2) with
emission wavelength of 788 nm are utilized as the pump
source. When the repetition frequency is 100 Hz and the
pulse width is 5 ms, the maximum single-pulse energies of
LD1 and LD2 are 91.8 and 93.8 mJ respectively. The
diameter and numerical aperture of the fiber core are 400
µm and 0.22 respectively. Two diode beams are collimated
and focused into the doped part of the Tm:LuAG crystal
by lenses with a focal length of 75 mm. The Tm:LuAG
laser crystal is rod crystal with a diameter of 3 mm and
a length of 25 mm. The doping concentration of Tm3+ is
3 at.%, and the length of the doping part is 15 mm. Both
end faces are coated with antireflective film near 788 nm
and 2.0~2.1 µm, and the side faces of the crystal are
polished. The Tm:LuAG crystal is wrapped in indium foil
and put in a water-cooled copper apparatus, the tempe-
rature of which is maintained at 289 K. The input mirror
M1 is a flat mirror coated with high reflection at 2.0~2.1
µm (R > 99.5%) and high antireflection at 788 nm (R <
0.5%). The 45° mirror M2 is coated for high reflection at
2.0~2.1 µm (R > 99.5%) and high antireflection at 788 nm
(R < 0.5%). The output coupler M3, coated for high antire-
flection at 788 nm and 5% transmittance at 2.0~2.1 µm, is
a plane-concave mirror with radius of curvature 150 mm.
A Gooch acousto-optic switch (QS041-10M-HI8) is
composed of a acousto-optic Q head and driver power. The
Q-switching crystal is a quartz crystal with a 2-cm light
diameter and 46-mm length; its RF power is 50 W. The
Q-switch apparatus is cooled by a water-cooling machine.
The total cavity length is 175 mm.
FIG. 8. The experimental configuration of the acousto-optic
Q-switched Tm:LuAG laser double-end-intermittently-pumped
by pulsed LDs.
243
Laser output spectra are measured by a spectrometer
(AQ6375, Co. YOKOGAWA) with wavelength range 1.2~
2.4 µm. A pulse-width detector (PCI-3TE-12, VIGO) with
wavelength range 2~12 µm is used to detect the pulse width
of the pulsed laser. The average output power is measured
by a power meter (F150A-BB-26, Ophir). A beam-quality
analyzer (Pyrocam-III Co. Spiricon, Duma Optronics) is
used to measure the spot pattern of the output laser and the
beam quality.
In order that the acousto-optical Q-switched Tm:LuAG
laser could be intermittently double-end-pumped by pulsed
LDs, an external triggering device is used to control the
output time sequence of the two diode lasers. The Tm:LuAG
crystals are intermittently pumped without changing the
optimal operating frequency of each laser medium; the
output of the laser can be optimized better when the
repetition frequency increases exponentially.
IV. EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS AND ANALYSIS
First, an experimental study of the Q-switched Tm:LuAG
laser double-end-pumped by pulsed LDs was carried out.
In this experiment, the LD repetition frequency was 100
Hz and the duty ratio 50%, and the output energy and
pulse width were measured when the Q-switched repeat
frequency was 100 and 200 Hz respectively.
As shown in Fig. 9, when the pumping energy was 52.2
mJ and the repetition frequency was 100 Hz, the single-
pulse energy was 13.7 mJ, the slope efficiency was 40.61%,
the pulse width was 291.5 ns, and the peak power was
46.99 kW; when the repetition frequency was 200 Hz, the
single-pulse energy was 5.51 mJ, the slope efficiency was
15.68%, the pulse width was 367.7 ns, and the peak power
was 14.98 kW.
After increase of the repetition frequency, the single-pulse
energy decreased and the pulse widened. This is because as
the repetition frequency increases, the accumulation time of
particles at the energy level of the laser working substance
is reduced, and the accumulated number of particles is
limited, causing a widened output pulse, because the period
during which the photon oscillates in the cavity increases
if a Q-switched apparatus is used.
As shown in Fig. 10, when the pumping energy was
56.27 mJ and the repetition frequency was 100 Hz, the
maximum single-pulse energy was 16.3 mJ, the slope
efficiency was 35%, the pulse width was 142 ns, and the
peak power was 114.79 kW. When the repetition frequency
was 200 Hz, the maximum single-pulse energy was 8.31
mJ, the slope efficiency was 19.06%, the pulse width was
101.9 ns, and the peak power was 81.55 kW. However, at
the same repetition frequency, the larger the pumping light
energy, the narrower the pulse width of the laser output;
this phenomenon indicates that the number of inverted
particles increases with higher pumping power supplied to
the laser working substance in a limited time.
244 Current Optics and Photonics, Vol. 4, No. 3, June 2020

(a) (b)
FIG. 9. Output energy (a) and pulse width (b) varying with the input energy of a Tm:LuAG Q-switched laser double-end-pumped by
pulsed LDs, at repetition frequencies of 100 and 200 Hz.

(a) (b)
FIG. 10. Output energy (a) and pulse width (b) versus input energy of a Tm:LuAG Q-switched laser double-end-intermittently-pumped
by pulsed LDs, at repetition frequencies of 100 and 200 Hz.

TABLE 2. Comparison of pulsed-LD intermittent-pumping technology and pulsed-LD double-ended-pumping technology

Repetition Single-pulse energy

Technology Pulse width (ns) Peak power (kW) Slope efficiency
frequency (Hz) (mJ)
Pulsed-LD intermittent- 100 16.3 142 114.79 35%
pumping technology 200 8.31 101.9 81.55 19.06%
Pulsed-LD double-ended- 100 13.7 291.5 46.99 40.61%
pumping technology 200 5.51 367.7 14.98 15.68%

The comparison of the experimental results of the pulsed-
LD intermittent-pumping technology and the pulsed-LD
double-end-pumping technology is shown in Table 2.
According to the simulation results, by adopting pulsed-
LD intermittent-pumping technology, after increasing the
repetition frequency the single-pulse energy is reduced and
a narrow pulse width is obtained at the same time. This
is because each end-face absorbs energy alternately. As
shown in Fig. 3, when the energy reaches surface A, A is
subjected to energy and the number of upper-energy particles
accumulates and then is released, but not completely released.
When the B face is subjected to energy, the particles
generated earlier and newly generated particles at the upper
energy level of the laser working substance are accumulated
together, over and over again. Adopting the method of
pulsed-LD intermittent pumping, the maximum temperature
at the maximum pump energy of 55 mJ was 295.47 K,
while the maximum temperature was 300.1 K when adopting
Pulsed-laser-diode Intermittently Pumped 2-µm Acousto-optic Q-switched … - Ya Wen et al. 245

the method of pulsed-LD double-ended pumping. The The output wavelength of 2023.65 nm was detected by
intermittent-pumping technique mitigates the thermal-lens a spectrometer, as shown in Fig. 13. The spectrometer
effect of the crystal, so that narrow pulse width and high
peak power output can still be obtained after the repetition
frequency increases.
Figure 11 shows that, adopting the method of pulsed-LD
intermittent pumping, the maximum peak power obtained at
a repetition frequency of 200 Hz was 81.55 kW, while the
maximum peak power was only 14.98 kW when adopting
the method of pulsed-LD double-ended pumping.
Figure 12 shows the pulse sequence and narrowest pulse
width at the 100-Hz repetition frequency of the power
supply and 200-Hz Q-switched laser output.

FIG. 13. The central wavelength of the pulsed Tm:LuAG laser.

FIG. 11. Peak power versus input energy, at a repetition

frequency of 200 Hz.

FIG. 14. Stability of the output energy.

(a)

(b)
FIG. 12. (a) Pulsed-LD intermittent-pumping sequence and
Q-switched repetition-frequency sequence; (b) the narrowest
pulse width of the Tm:LuAG laser. FIG. 15. Beam quality of the output laser.
246
resolution was 0.05 nm; the spectral width of the output
beam was about 2.0 nm. To measure the beam quality at
maximum energy, the stability at the maximum single-pulse
energy of 8.31 mJ at a repetition frequency of 200 Hz was
first measured. The output energy versus time is shown in
Fig. 14; the stability was better than 98%. A beam-quality
analyzer was used to analyze the beam quality of the
Q-switched Tm:LuAG laser at 8.31 mJ. Figure 15 shows
the beam quality and spot pattern of the output laser. The
beam quality in the x direction is 1.70, and in the y
direction is 1.73.
V. CONCLUSION
We use a pulsed-LD intermittent-double-ended-pumping
method to pump a Tm:LuAG Q-switched laser. Each end
of the crystal is excited by a pulsed LD. By controlling
the external circuit, the excitation duration and interval of
the two pulsed LDs to the gain medium is controlled. The
interval is used to alleviate the thermal effect of the
crystal caused by simultaneous double-ended pumping, by
which overall output-laser performance could be better
when the repetition frequency is twice the optimal
repetition frequency. In fact, the result has been proved
using COMSOL software to simulate the temperature in
the Tm:LuAG crystal under two situations. When using
LD intermittent pumping and a pump energy of 150 mJ,
the maximum temperature in the crystal is reduced by 12.1
K, and the temperature in the crystal increases stably.
Under the condition of double-ended simultaneous pumping,
when the repetition frequency is 200 Hz, the maximum
output energy is 5.51 mJ and the narrowest pulse width is
367.7 ns. Under the condition of pulsed-LD intermittent
pumping, when the repetition frequency is 200 Hz, the
maximum output energy obtained is 8.31 mJ and the
narrowest pulse width is 101.9 ns. The measured central
wavelength is 2023.65 nm, and the measured beam-quality
factors Mx2 and My2 are 1.697 and 1.726 respectively.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
This work is supported by the Education Department of
Jilin Province in China, grant no. JJKH20181102KJ, and
the Science and Technology Department Project of Jilin
Province, grant no. 20180101033JC.
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