Abstract

Experimental and numerical methods were employed to investigate the influence of thermal effects in room-temperature continuous-wave Cr⁴⁺:YAG lasers. Pump saturation, laser threshold, and laser efficiency data were first analyzed by accounting for the temperature dependence of the fluorescence lifetime, pump-induced heating in the gain medium, excited-state absorption at the lasing wavelength, and saturation effects. Best-fit values of the absorption, emission, and excited-state absorption cross sections were determined to be 11.2×10⁻¹⁹ cm², 0.47×10⁻¹⁹ cm², and 0.093×10⁻¹⁹ cm², respectively. Based on the best-fit cross-section values, numerical calculations show that the optimum crystal length and absorption coefficient are 2 cm and 0.56 cm⁻¹, respectively.

© 2000 Optical Society of America