981 nm Yb:KYW laser intracavity pumped at 912 nm and frequency-doubling for an emission at 490.5 nm

Abstract

We present an Yb:KY(WO4)2 (Yb:KYW) laser emitting at 981 nm intracavity pumped by a 912 nm diode-pumped Nd:GdVO4 laser. A 808 nm diode laser is used to pump the Nd:GdVO4 crystal emitting at 912 nm, and the Yb:KYW laser emitting at 981 nm intracavity pumped at 912 nm. This configuration enabled us to indirectly diode-pump this ytterbium doped crystal, and to obtain 1.12 W output power at 981 nm for 19.6 W of incident pump power at 808 nm. Furthermore, intracavity second harmonic generation has also been demonstrated with a power of 106 mW at 490.5 nm by using a LBO nonlinear crystal.