Nd-glass laser with three-dimensional optical waveguide

Abstract

Room‐temperature laser operation in a three‐dimensional Nd‐glass waveguide is reported. The waveguide was fabricated by a double‐diffusion process with ion migration. A Nd‐glass laser, 4 mm in length, was end‐pumped at 590‐nm wavelength with a pulsed Rhodamine 6G dye laser. The threshold power for the Nd‐glass waveguide laser was about 18 μJ, which was nearly one‐half of that for a conventional Nd‐glass laser without guiding structure. The measured value of the threshold for a waveguide laser agrees with the theoretical calculation.