High power passively Q-switched Tmc+:(LuxGd1-x)3Ga5O12 laser based on boron nitride

Abstract The spectroscopy and laser performance in Tmc+:(LuxGd1-x)3Ga5O12 (Tm:LGGG) crystal were studied in this paper. The absorption and emission cross sections and gain curves have been calculated from spectroscopic data. In continuous wave operation emitting at 2017.7 nm, a maximum output power of 3.53 W was achieved under the absorbed pump power of 14.7 W, corresponding to a conversion efficiency of 24% and slope efficiency of 29.5%. By using a boron nitride (BN) saturable absorber (SA), a minimum pulse width of 736 ns was obtained in the passively Q-switched operation emitting at 2009.7 nm, corresponding to a peak power of 50.3 W.