Optical pumped neodymium miniature laser transmitter. Final report, October 1978

The preparation and the properties of the most important stoichiometric Nd laser materials and miniature lasers made from them are considered as well as calculations for pumping these lasers with LEDs and for coupling them to the modulator. Both optical communication systems and the rival merits of neodym solid-state lasers and semiconductor lasers are considered. The following results are of particular interest: miniature lasers for 1.06 micrometer and in some cases for 1.32 micrometer fabricated from NdP/sup 5/O/sup 14/, NdAl/sup 3/(BO/sup 3/)/sup 4/ and LiNd(PO/sup 3/)/sup 4/ with mirrors directly applied to their endfaces allowing CW operation at room temperature. The LNP laser with 1 mW threshold, 6% differential efficiency and a threshold pump power density of 4 kW/cu cm offers the best performance. The electrooptical coefficient expected for NdAl/sup 3/(BO/sup 3/)/sup 4/ on the basis of lattice symmetry was found to be 0.6 x 10 to the -12 power m/V. The Nd laser transmitter can be expected to cost considerably more than the future INGAP semiconductor laser transmitter.