Abstract
A study of the dependence of the gain-switched laser operation of chromium forsterite on crystal parameters is presented. Results are reported for a wide range of chromium (IV) ion concentration: 0.02–0.12 at. % and 12–41 figure of merit, with emphasis on performance of the recently developed material with a dopant level of >0.10 at. %. Threshold and slope efficiency calculations are compared with measured performance for all crystals, with variation of pump polarization and output coupling. With 3% output coupling, the lowest threshold of 1.8 mJ, and highest slope efficiency of 13% were measured for a short, high-dopant-level crystal. With 33% output coupling a slope efficiency of 44% was measured for this crystal. Results demonstrate the considerable potential of short, high-dopant-level crystals for applications such as amplification, diode pumping, and narrow-bandwidth operation.
© 1996 Optical Society of America
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