Compact intracavity-pumped Ho:YVO4 laser developed using a diode-pumped Tm:YAP laser

We developed a compact 2-μm intracavity-pumped Ho  :  YVO4 laser using a diode-pumped Tm:YAP laser at room temperature. Before applying the Ho laser, the lasing characteristics of the a-cut Tm:YAP laser were studied, and a maximum output power of 2.76 W at 1951.6 nm was obtained under an incident laser diode pump power of 25 W with a slope efficiency of 15.8%. Under the same cavity structure, the continuous-wave Ho  :  YVO4 laser yielded a maximum output power of 1.7 W at 2052.7 nm for an incident diode pump power of 29 W, corresponding to a slope efficiency of 10.4%. The beam quality factor (M2) of the Ho  :  YVO4 laser at the maximum output power was estimated to be 1.16 and 1.26 in the horizontal and vertical directions, respectively, which indicates the occurrence of near-diffraction-limited beam propagation.