High-Power Acoustic-Optical Q-Switched 1.83 mu m Tm-Doped Bulk Laser

We report on a high-power acoustic-optical (AO) Q-switched Tm:YLF laser operating at similar to 1.83 mu m by controlling the transmittance of the output coupler. Under the continuous-wave (CW) operation, the maximum output power of 13 W is achieved, and the slope efficiency is up to 32.7%. With a YAG etalon inserted into the cavity, the linewidth is compressed below 0.5 nm with a maximum output power of 12.2 W. In the Q-switched state, the maximum pulsed output power of 10.32 W is achieved with a pulse duration of 150 ns when the repetition rate is 15 kHz. And the maximum pulsed energy of 1.13 mJ is generated with a duration of 131 ns at 5 kHz. As far as we know, this is the highest output power reported for the CW and pulsed 1.83 mu m laser. In addition, the relationship between the output wavelength and crystal length is theoretically analyzed, which shows that increasing the loss of 1880 nm is the key to high-power 1.83 mu m laser output.