Intracavity diode-side-pumped Raman laser at 1147 nm and 1163 nm

Wavelengths in the yellow-orange range are of significant interest due to their application potential in the medical and biomedical areas, as well as for applications in laser displays and in remote sensing. These wavelengths can be obtained by frequency-doubling or sum-frequency generation of lasers with near-IR emission like VCSELS, fiber lasers, and OPOs. However, all these alternatives have several limitations that justify the development of alternative methods. As a possible solution for these limitations, a configuration of an intracavity converted Raman laser may be developed to obtain two wavelengths, 1163 nm, and 1147 nm, with high efficiency and good beam quality. This paper presents a configuration of a side-pumped intracavity converted Raman laser to achieve these objectives. A Nd:YLiF₄ crystal was used as fundamental wavelength gain crystal. The side-pumped configuration guarantees practicability and cost reduction while allowing good efficiency and fundamental mode laser beam. The intracavity conversion configuration allows high fundamental wavelength power at the Stokes crystal in order to facilitate the obtention of the Stokes wavelengths and enables optimization of its efficiency. As a result an output power at 1163 nm of 3.8 W in the multimode regime was obtained, corresponding to a pump to Stokes efficiency of 9.6%. The TEM₀₀ diode to Stokes efficiency was 7%. For the emission at 1147 nm, 1.5W of output power with a diode to Stokes efficiency of 3.7% was achieved. The side-pumped Nd:YLF/KGW intracavity Raman laser configuration is reported for the first time, to our knowledge.