Crystalline Raman Lasers

Abstract

In this paper, we review the developments of crystalline Raman lasers over the past five years. Average powers exceeding 5 W and pulse energies above 1 J in the near infrared have been demonstrated for larger scale devices. There has been a rapid development of all-solid-state sources based on the standard diode-pumped lasers, especially intracavity crystalline Raman lasers, which offer wavelength versatility at high conversion efficiencies (overall diode Stokes optical conversion efficiencies up to 17%) in the near infrared, including the 1.5- mum eye-safe band. Passively Q-switched intracavity Raman lasers based on self-Raman laser materials offer many advantages for miniaturization of short-pulse (1 ns) sources. Intracavity frequency-doubled crystalline Raman lasers have also emerged as practical and versatile sources in the yellow orange region at 1-W power levels with diode-visible efficiencies near 10%. Recent developments of all-solid-state continuous-wave (CW) intracavity crystalline Raman lasers offer many possibilities for the future: intracavity frequency doubling has already resulted in the demonstration of CW visible sources with powers approaching 1 W at 5% diode-visible efficiency.