Thermal load and efficiency optimization for a flashlamp-pumped Er:YAG laser

Repetitive operation of flashlamp pumped 3 pm Er:YAG lasers is limited by thermal effects which are due to high threshold energies Eth per pulse.1 There are three main pumping processes, here labeled as R1, R2, and W, that populate the Er3+ laser states 4I11/2 and 4I13/2.