High-power polycrystalline Er: YAG ceramic laser at 1617 nm

We report on the efficient operation of a high-power erbium-doped polycrystalline Er:YAG ceramic laser at 1617 nm resonantly pumped by a high-power 1532 nm Er, Yb fiber laser. Lasing characteristics of Er: YAG ceramics with different Er3+ concentrations are evaluated and compared. With an output coupler of 15% transmission and 0.5 at. % Er3+-doped YAG ceramic as the gain media, the laser generates 14W of output power at 1617 nm for 28.8W of incident pump power at 1532nm, corresponding to a slope efficiency with respect to incident pump power of 51.7%. (C) 2011 Optical Society of America