Non-photorefractive CW Tm-indiffused Ti:LiNbO₃ waveguide laser operating at room temperature

Abstract

We report laser operation at 1.81 μm and 1.85 μm in a Tm/sup 3+/:LiNbO <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">3</sub> Ti-diffused waveguide doped by thermal indiffusion at high temperature. We believe this is the first time lasing has been seen in Tm:LiNbO <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">3</sub> at room temperature. Continuous-wave operation was achieved at room temperature with a threshold of 42 mW launched pump power. The output power was observed to be stable, without any sign of photorefractive damage.