Co:spinel VS V:YAG: Saturable absorber for 1.3μm lasers

The 1.3um band is in the low-loss zone of quartz fiber and is close to the zero-dispersion zone. It also has good absorption properties for water molecules. Therefore, the 1.3μm-band laser has been widely used in optical fiber communications, laser medical treatment, optical remote sensing and other fields. In addition, the red laser obtained by doubling the frequency of the 1.3um band laser and the blue laser obtained by tripling the frequency also have important applications in the field of laser display.

In addition, the 1.3μm band laser can also produce a 1.5um band eye-safe laser through stimulated Raman scattering, which has important applications in laser radar, free space optical communications and other fields. In particular, the second harmonic (657nm) and fourth harmonic (328nm) of 1314nm can be applied to calcium atomic optical clocks and silver atomic optical clocks respectively, providing a higher-precision time and frequency standard.

The solid gain medium in the 1.3μm band mainly include Nd:YVO4, Nd:GdVO4, Nd:YAG, Nd:GGG, Nd:KGW, Nd:YAP, Nd:YLF and other crystals.

At present, the main saturable absorbers used for 1.3μm laser include V:YAG, Co:LMA, Co:MgAl2O4, semiconductor saturable absorber mirrors, etc.

Co:MgAl2O4 Saturable Absorber

Co:MgAl2O4 crystals are Co2+ doped magnesium-aluminium spinels with a broad absorption band, large absorption cross section, long excited state lifetime and small excited state absorption loss at 1.2 to 1.6 μm. Used for laser emission at wavelengths from 1.2 to 1.6 mm, especially for eye-safe 1.54 mm Er:glass lasers, but also at wavelengths of 1.44 μm and 1.34 μm. The large absorption cross-section (3.5±0.6×10-19 cm2) allows passive Q-modulation of flashlamps and diode-pumped Er:glass lasers without intracavity focusing. produce intracavity focusing. The small excited-state absorption allows high contrast for Q-modulation with a raw saturable absorption (small signal) of >10.

Co:MgAl2O4 crystals are ideal for passive Q-modulation in the 1.5 μm human eye-safe band, and also have good saturable absorption properties at 1.3 μm, with an absorption cross section of σa = 2.8 x 10-19 cm2 . Nd:YAG crystal at 1319nm has an excited emission cross section of 0.95×10-19cm2.The ratio of the two cross sections is 2.95, which is favourable for the generation of passively Q-tuned pulsed laser light.

co spinel

Co:MgAl2O4 Saturable Absorber

  • Absorption Cross-section: In Co:MgAl2O4 crystals, the ground-state absorption cross section at 1.34 μm is about (2.8 ± 0.4) × 10-19 cm2 and at 1.54 μm is about (3.5 ± 0.6) × 10-19 cm2.
  • Relaxation Time: The relaxation time in Co²⁺:MgAl2O4 is long, approximately 350 ns. This long relaxation time makes it more suitable for applications requiring larger pulse energies.
  • Saturation Intensity: Although Co:MgAl2O4 has a low saturation cross section, its high saturation intensity makes it suitable for high intensity laser applications. Compared to other materials, such as V:YAG, the saturation intensity of Co:MgAl2O4 crystals is approximately 50 times that of V:YAG.

V:YAG Saturable Absorber

The linear absorption spectrum of V3+:YAG is shown in Fig. It can be seen that the spectral range is very wide, greater than 1000 nm, and there are five absorption peaks near 425 nm, 600 nm, 800 nm, 1140 nm, and 1320 nm, and experiments have proved that it has a saturated absorption characteristic at 0.75~1.44 μm, and can be used as a passive Q-modulating element in this band.

It has a large base-state absorption cross-section at 1.3 μm, σgsa=(7.2±2.6)×10-18cm2, and a small excited-state absorption cross-section, σesa=(7.4±2.8)×10-19cm2, with the ratio of the two being β=σesa/σgsa≈0.1, i.e., the corresponding excited-state reabsorption loss is small. Its recovery time is short, 22±6ns, and the reasonable design of the cavity can obtain the Q clamping operation.

V:YAG is also a widely used saturable absorbing material with the following key properties:

  • Absorption Cross-section: The ground-state absorption cross-section of V:YAG at 1342 nm is about 7.2×10-18 cm2 while the excited-state absorption cross-section is 7.4×10-19 cm2.V:YAG has higher absorption at similar wavelengths compared to Co:MgAl2O4.
  • Relaxation Time: The relaxation time of V:YAG is much shorter than that of Co:MgAl2O4, typically around 22 ns. The shorter relaxation time makes V:YAG more suitable for applications requiring short pulse durations and high repetition rates.
V:YAG Saturable Absorber

V:YAG Saturable Absorber

Tabular comparison of physical and chemical property parameters

Co:SpinelV:YAG
Chemical FormulaCo2+:MgAl2O4V3+:Y3Al5O12
Crystal StructureCubicCubic– la3d
Density3,62 g/cm34,56 g/cm3
Orientation[100] or [111] < ±0.5°<100> <+/-0.5°
Optical Density0.1-0.90.1-0.8
Working Wavelength Range1.2~1.6μm0.75~1.44μm
Absorption Cross-section3.5×10-19 cm2(at 1.54 µm)7.2×10-18cm2(at 1.34 µm)
Absorption Coefficient0 ~ 7 cm-11.0cm-1 – 7.0cm-1
Heat Conductivity Coefficient17 Wm-1K-111.2 Wm-1K-1
Damage Threshold>500 MW/cm2>500 MW/cm2

Comparison of absorption spectra

Co:spinel absorption spectrum
V:YAG absorption spectrum

Co:spinel absorption spectrum

V:YAG absorption spectrum

1.3μm passive Q-modulated laser case

Co:spinel for 1.3 μm passive Q-modulated lasers

In 1999, V.P. Mikhailov et al. firstly used a lamp pump as a pump source for passive Q-modulated pulsed laser output of Nd:YAIO3 crystals using Co2+:MgAI2O4 crystals as saturable absorbers. Then a comparative study of Co2+:MgAL2O4 and Co2+:LaMgAl11O19 crystals was carried out, and the passive Q-modulated pulse outputs of 1.34 μm and 1.5 μm were achieved, respectively. The pulse width of the 1.34 μm laser using Co2+:MgAl2O4 crystal as the saturable absorber is 110 ns, and the energy of a single pulse is 10 mJ.

In 2011, Y. Liu et al. achieved passive Q-switched output from a diode-pumped 1.34 μm Nd:GdVO4 laser using a Co2+:MgAl2O4 (Co2+:MALO) crystal as a saturable absorber. The Q-switched pulse width is 110 ns at 15% transmittance of the output mirror, which corresponds to an average output power of 460 mW at a pump power of 9.69 W, with a photoelectric conversion efficiency of 36%. At a repetition frequency of about 330 kHz, the individual Q-switch pulse energy and peak power were about 1.39 μJ and 12.6 W, respectively.

In 2017, Lin et al. obtained a 1331.6 nm pulsed laser output with a pulse width of 20.5 ns and a peak power of 1319 W based on a laser crystal, Nd:GYSGG, and a plano-concave resonant cavity with a saturable absorber, Co:MgAl2O4.

In 2018, Lin et al. achieved 1319 nm passive Q-modulated pulsed laser output with a pulse width of only 18.3 ns, a single pulse energy of 28.1 μJ, and a peak power of 1533 W using a Nd:YAG crystal with a simple and compact two-mirror resonant cavity and a Co:MgAl2O4 saturable absorber.Compared with other V:YAG, Co:LMA, and nanomaterials Compared with other V:YAG, Co:LMA and nanomaterials saturable absorbers, the Co:MgAI2O4:crystal has good saturable absorption characteristics in the 1.3 μm band.

V:YAG for 1.3 μm passive Q-modulated lasers

In 2005, Xue et al. obtained an average power output of 96 mW, a pulse width of 8.8 ns, a repetition frequency of 25 kHz, a peak power of 436 W, and a pulse energy of 3.84 μJ using V:YAG with a T0 of 85%.

In 2011, Xu used LD-pumped Nd:GdVO4 crystals and V:YAG passively Q-switched 1342 nm laser operation, in which the small-signal transmittance of saturated absorber V:YAG was 96%. The shortest pulse width of 80ns, the highest peak power of 244W and the maximum single-pulse energy of 19.5μJ were obtained at the output combined mirror transmittance T=15% and pump power of 7.93W.

In 2016, Teng Song et al. reported the performance of a laser diode-pumped passively Q-switched Nd: GYSGG laser at 1331 nm with a V: YAG saturable absorber. The maximum average output power was 251 mW when the pump power was 11.75 W. An 8.8% output coupler was used with a minimum pulse width of 23.9 ns and a pulse repetition frequency of 11 kHz, which corresponded to 954 W of peak power.

References

Frank

Frank graduated from the University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, majoring in optics. As a technical engineer at Crylink Company, he deeply understands crystal materials and laser components.

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