Nanosecond room-temperature Fe: ZnSe laser pumped inside the resonator of a transversely diode-pumped Er: YLF laser

Lasing at room temperature is obtained in a Fe: ZnSe crystal installed as a passive Q-switch in a diode-pumped Er: YLF laser resonator. A miniresonator of the Fe: ZnSe laser is formed by mirrors pressed against the optical surfaces of the crystal with high reflectivities at lambda= 4-4.5 pm and a high transmittance for the Er: YLF laser generation lines. In the Er: YLF laser resonator, short pulses of similar to 100 ns duration at lambda= 2.65 pm are generated, stipulated by passive Q-switching of the resonator by the Fe: ZnSe crystal. The absorption of the Er: YLF laser radiation in the Fe: ZnSe crystal leads to the pumping of Fe: ZnSe laser, which generates pulses with a duration of less than 50 ns and an energy of similar to 0.5 mu J at lambda= 4.2 mu m. The laser operates in the pulse-periodic pump regime with a repetition rate up to 200 Hz.