CHROMIUM-DOPED FORSTERITE - THE INFLUENCE OF CRYSTAL CHARACTERISTICS ON LASER PERFORMANCE

A study of the dependence of the gain-switched laser operation of chro mium forsterite on crystal parameters is presented. Results are report ed 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 recen tly developed material with a dopant level of >0.10 at. %. Threshold a nd slope efficiency calculations are compared with measured performanc e for all crystals, with variation of pump polarization and output cou pling. With 3% output coupling, the lowest threshold of 1.8 mJ, and hi ghest slope efficiency of 13% were measured for a short, high-dopant-l evel crystal. With 33% output coupling a slope efficiency of 44% was m easured for this crystal. Results demonstrate the considerable potenti al of short, high-dopant-level crystals for applications such as ampli fication, diode pumping, and narrow-bandwidth operation. (C) 1996 Opti cal Society of America