Cryogenically cooled solid-state lasers have overcome the limitations of power and efficiency of laser systems while maintaining an excellent beam quality. HiLASE Center has been investigating laser performance of various laser materials at cryogenic temperatures.
Samuel Paul David, Venkatesan Jambunathan and Fangxin Yue, all members of the HiLASE Centre team, have studied Yb:LuAG cryogenic laser using a VBG stabilized laser diode emitting at 968.7 nm. Under the given experimental condition, they found that operating Yb:LuAG CW laser at 140K improves the slope efficiency by 7 times and output power by 16 times compared to laser operation at 240K. A maximum slope efficiency of 67% and a maximum output power of 10.46 W were achieved.
You can read all their findings in the article “Diode pumped cryogenic Yb:Lu3Al5O12 laser in continuous-wave and pulsed regime” in a prestigious journal Optics & Laser Technology.
Experimental setup for diode pumped 15% Yb:LuAG cryogenic laser.
