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Trivalent Praseodymium-Doped Yttrium Lithium Fluoride Visible Lasers Pumped by Gallium Nitride Series Laser Diodes

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Trivalent Praseodymium-Doped Yttrium Lithium Fluoride Visible Lasers Pumped by Gallium Nitride Series Laser Diodes Trivalent Praseodymium-doped Yttrium Lithium Fluoride Visible Lasers Pumped by Gallium Nitride Series Laser Diodes August 2018 Hiroki Tanaka Abstract This study deals with the demonstration of continuous-wave and passively Q-switched trivalent praseodymium (Pr3+)-doped solid-state lasers directly pumped by indium gallium nitride (InGaN)-based blue laser diodes 3+ (LDs). As the laser gain medium, Pr -doped yttrium lithium fluoride (LiYF4, YLF) was adopted in this study. Recent progress of InGaN-based blue LDs are remarkable, and nowadays, an output power of 5 W is available around 450 nm from a 9-mm CAN single emitter device. By utilizing the high power blue LDs, the pump power was increased up to 20 W, the highest pump level for visible Pr3+ lasers ever reported, and continuous output powers of 6.7 W and 3.7 W were obtained from Pr3+:YLF lasers operated at 640 and 607 nm, respectively. The onset of strong negative thermal lensing for π-polarization inhibited the scaling at 523 nm. The highest efficiency of 640-nm diode-pumped Pr3+:YLF laser was achieved by directly exciting the 479-nm line by a cyan-blue LD providing 1-W pump power. The highest slope efficiency of 62.9% was obtained. Using a fiber-coupled pump module provided >20 W pump power at 445 nm, the pump-limited scaling of an end-pumped Pr3+:YLF laser at 640 nm was demonstrated. The laser performance exhibited an onset of strong thermally-induced diffraction loss when high transmission output couplers were used. Using an output coupler of 1.1% transmission, an output power of 3.4 W was obtained with a slope efficiency of 25%. For passive Q-switching of Pr3+ visible lasers, a variety of transition-metal-doped crystals were experimentally investigated as saturable absorbers. tetravalent chromium- and divalent cobalt-doped oxide crystals were mainly 4+ 2+ focused on. Cr in Y3Al5O12 (YAG) and Mg2SiO4 (forsterite), and Co in MgAl2O4 spinel, LiGa5O8, and Gd3Ga5O12 (GGG) exhibited attractive saturable absorption for passive Q-switching. Passive Q-switching 3+ 4+ 2+ 2+ of diode-pumped Pr :YLF visible lasers were achieved using Cr :YAG, Co :MgAl2O4, and Co :GGG saturable absorbers. The proposed rate equation model showed a good agreement with the experimental results. The numerical models allow to optimize laser parameters and to examine the possibility to obtain Q-switching of other gain media. Frequency doubling and tripling were applied to continuous-wave and passive Q-switching Pr3+:YLF lasers at 640 nm to generate ultraviolet. Intracavity frequency doubling of Pr3+:YLF laser is a promising approach to efficiently generate continuous-wave ultraviolet laser. Using a lithium triborate3 (LiB O5, LBO), a 320-nm output power of 880 mW was obtained at an absorbed pump power of 5.9 W. Intracavity frequency doubling was also applied to a passive Q-switching Pr3+:YLF laser, and 50-ns ultraviolet pulses were successfully generated with a repetition rate of 52-kHz. The numerical model for passive Q-switching were extended for frequency doubling. 213-nm deep ultraviolet pulse generation as third harmonic of visible laser was realized for the first time. The use of visibly oscillating frond end enables to simplify the conversion processes. The 213-nm deep ultraviolet has conventionally been achieved as fifth harmonic of 1-µm lasers, and requires three conversion steps, while 640-nm laser can reach 213 nm by only two steps of conversion. In the proof-of-concept demonstration, 213-nm deep UV pulses were successfully generated from an actively Q-switched Pr3+:YLF laser which only provided a pulse energy of 56 µJ. i Acknowledgements The work presented in this thesis was carried out in the group of Prof. Dr. Fumihiko Kannari at the Graduate School of Science and Technology in Keio University. I am highly grateful to him for giving me the opportunity to conduct this research in his group. He kindly accepted me in his group from my master course even though I had never learnt the laser physics and engineering before. He was always available to discuss on experiments and results although he was always busy. Through the discussions with him, I could learn a lot from him not only things related to my research. I would like to thank Prof. Dr. Hiroyuki Sasada, Prof. Dr. Hiroyuki Tsuda, and Prof. Dr. Takasumi Tanabe for being the vice chairs in my dissertation committee, and for carefully reviewing and giving advices and corrections to improve this thesis. I would like to thank Dr. Kenichi Hirosawa, a previous research associate in the group of Prof. Kannari, for his knowledge on laser engineering. I could learn a lot of know-how through experiments with him. A part of work presented in this thesis was conducted from August 2017 to January 2018 in the Center for Laser Materials of Leibniz Institute for Crystal Growth (Institut für Kristallzuchtung, IKZ) in Berlin. I would like to express my appreciation to Dr. Christian Kränkel, the group leader of the Center for Laser Materials, for accepting me as a visiting student of his group. Although he was always busy, he occasionally gave me lectures on physics in laser materials and was always available for discussing on results and ideas. I also thank Elena Castellano-Hernández, a Ph.D. student in the Center for Laser Materials in IKZ, for helping me when I got difficulties in the institute. I appreciate her effortto excavate old crystals at the Institute of Laser-Physics in Hamburg University to be investigated. I would also like to thank Maxim Demesh, a visiting student at IKZ from Beralusian National Technical University, for allowing me to use a Cr:forsterite crystal for my measurements. I would like to acknowledge to all the members of Kannari laboratory. Particularly, Ryosuke Kariyama, Kodai Iijima and Shogo Fujita, who had been working together for praseodymium lasers, were huge help for completing this thesis. I would also like to thank Aruto Hosaka, a Ph.D. student in the lab., for his insightful advices on my experiments and results. His comments at meetings were always helpful. I am grateful to Nichia Corp. for providing high-power GaN blue laser diodes. These were indispensable devices to accomplish all the laser experiments presented in this thesis. I would like to thank all the technical staffs in the manufacturing center of Keio University. I frequently used the facility to make mechanical pieces to be integrated in laser setups. The facility and support of the technical staffs were important to carry out experiments. I would like to express my appreciation to the Program of Leading Graduate Schools of Keio University for “Science for Development of Super Mature Society” for its financial support for travels expenses of international ii conferences, for article publication fees, and for the six-month research visit at the Leibniz Institute for Crystal Growth in Berlin. Help and supports of the project professors and staffs are appreciated. I would like to acknowledge the colleagues participating as research assistants in the Program of Leading Graduate Schools of Keio University. Although we have completely different research backgrounds, discussion with them were always exciting, and allowed me to keep my motivation for research. I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Yuri Yamamoto for her mental support allowing me to complete this Ph.D. study. Finally, I express my gratitude to my family for allowing me to continue my whole student life. iii List of Abbreviations AOM Acousto-Optic Modulator AR Anti-Reflection b b BBO -Barium Borate ( -BaB2O4) BRF Birefringent Filter BS Beam Splitter BYF BY3F10 CLBO Cesium Lithium Borate (CsLiB6O10) CMOS Complimentary Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor CW Continuous-Wave DM Dichroic Mirror DUV Deep Ultraviolet ESA Excited State Absorption FWHM Full Width at Half Maximum GaN Gallium Nitride GAP Gallium Aluminum Perovskite (GaAlO3) GGG Gadolinium Gallium Garnet (Gd3Ga5O12) GSA Ground State Absorption HR High Reflectivity KYF KY3F10 LASER Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation LBO Lithium Triborate (LiB3O5) LD Laser Diode LED Light Emitting Diode LGO LiGa5O8 LLF Lutetium Lithium Fluoride (LiLuF4) LuAP Lutetium Aluminum Perovskite (LuAlO3) MALO MgAl2O4 MOPA Master Oscillator Power Amplifier NA Numerical Aperture NIR Near-Infrared OC Output Coupler OPO Optical Parametric Oscillator OPSL Optically Pumped Semiconductor Laser PBS Polarizing Beam Splitter PD Photo-Detector PID Proportional-Integral-Differential PM Plane Mirror PMT Photomultiplier Tube iv QD Quantum Dot QPM Quasi Phase Matching RE Rare Earth RF Radio Frequency SH Second Harmonic SHG Second Harmonic Generation SRA Strontium Hexaaluminate (SrAl12O19) UV Ultraviolet VECSEL Vertical External Cavity Surface Emitting Laser YAG Yttrium Aluminum Garnet (Y3Al5O12) YAP Yttrium Aluminum Perovskite (YAlO3) YLF Yttrium Lithium Fluoride (LiYF4) ZBLAN ZrF4-BaF2-LaF3-AlF3-NaF v Physical Constants Speed of light c = 2:998 × 108 m=s Planck constant h = 6:626 × 10−34 J · s Reduced Planck constant ~ = h=2π −12 −1 Electric constant "0 = 8:854 × 10 F · m Elementary charge e = 1:602 × 10−19 C −31 Electron mass me = 9:109 × 10 kg −23 −1 Boltzmann constant kB = 1:380 × 10 J · K vi List of Symbols A21 Einstein’s A coefficient A~ A-element of ABCD matrix B Racah B parameter B12;B21 Einstein’s B coefficient B~ B-element of ABCD matrix C Racah C parameter C~ C-element of ABCD matrix Dq Crystal field strength D~ D-element of ABCD matrix E Energy E0 Young modulus F Fluence of laser pulse f Focal length fp Ratio of excited state absorption cross section
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