3-um erbium laser with an SBS phase conjugating mirror

Hans Joachim Eichler; Baining Liu; O. Sperlich

doi:10.1117/12.308659

27 May 1998 3-μm erbium laser with an SBS phase conjugating mirror

Hans Joachim Eichler, Baining Liu, O. Sperlich

Proceedings Volume 3265, Solid State Lasers VII; (1998) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.308659
Event: Optoelectronics and High-Power Lasers and Applications, 1998, San Jose, CA, United States

Abstract

Three micrometer erbium lasers can be widely used in medical applications due to water absorption maximum at 3 micrometers. This allows cleaner cuts with smaller destruction of adjacent tissues. A power scaling of laser radiation in this wavelength range with maintaining good beam quality is very important to reach good surgically results. However, many difficulties exist to scale the output power of 3 micrometer erbium lasers. One of them results from thermal lensing in the active materials. To solve this problem, we have realized for the first time an Er:Cr:YSGG laser in a MOPA arrangement incorporating an SBS-cell as phase-conjugating mirror, where also a resonant reflector and a FTIR-shutter as Q-switch were used in the master oscillator. An optical isolator between the master oscillator and the power amplifier at 3 micrometer wavelength was constructed by using a self-made (lambda) /4- plate and a polarizer based on silicon plates technology which function also as the outcoupling device for the phase conjugated beam. The phase-conjugating properties of the output beam were demonstrated by observing the profiles of both input and output beams. An SBS reflectivity of more than 40% and an SBS threshold of below 200 kW were obtained in the CS₂ SBS-liquid. Our results demonstrate that SBS phase conjugation can be also applied for MOPAs with high beam quality of 3 micrometer radiation.

Citation Download Citation

Hans Joachim Eichler, Baining Liu, and O. Sperlich "3-μm erbium laser with an SBS phase conjugating mirror", Proc. SPIE 3265, Solid State Lasers VII, (27 May 1998); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.308659

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