Gain-switched high-power Ti:sapphire laser

Light source for the coherence radar

This high power laser system is a further development of the 25 Hz broadband light source. he idea was to using a commercial available pump source, a diode-pumped solid-state laser. The parameters of this light source are shown in the following table.

actively q-switched Nd:YAG   externally frequency-doubled   Repetition rate 500 Hz Pulse length < 10 ns Output power @ 532 nm > 1.7 W Output pulse energy @ 532 nm > 3.4 mJ

The green laser light is focused by a lens into the Ti:sapphire crystal. That means the laser will be pumped transversally.

Fig. 1 Schematic setup of the Ti:sapphire laser

In cooperation with IB-Laser this setup was realized to a compact, stout and high-efficient broadband light source.

Fig. 2 Realized setup of the Ti:sapphire laser

So we achieved more than 553 mW output power. The slope efficiency is 34 %. The near gaussian spectrum of this broadband red light has a center wavelength of 781 nm and a bandwidth of 33 nm (FWHM).

Fig. 3 Pump power vs. output power

Fig. 4 Emission spectrum at maximum pump power