Neodymium-doped silica lasers in end-pumped fiber geometry

Abstract

Fused SiO₂ has been used as a new noncrystalline host for the fabrication of two types of neodymium‐doped room‐temperature lasers, one of which operates at 1.06‐μm and the other at 1.08‐μm wavelength. The lasers have the geometry of clad optical fibers, with active cores as small as 15‐μm diameter by 1‐cm length. They are end pumped at 0.590 and 0.5145 μm with a pulsed dye laser and an argon ion laser, respectively. Thresholds as low as 1–2 mW of absorbed pump power in a 40‐μm‐diam core have been obtained, and eventual pumping with high‐radiance semiconductor optical sources appears feasible.