350 mJ electro-optically Q-switched 2.79 µm Cr:Er:YSGG MOPA.

We report on developing three flashlamp-pumped electro-optically Q-switched Cr:Er:YSGG lasers with the Q-switch based on a LaGaSiO crystal. The "short" laser cavity was optimized for high peak power applications. In this cavity, 300 mJ output energy in 15 ns pulses at a 3 Hz repetition rate was demonstrated with pump energy below 52 J.

Spectral narrowing and broadening of Cr:ZnS/Se laser oscillation due to mode competition and spatial hole burning in the gain element.

In this paper, we demonstrate the laser characterization of Cr:ZnS/Se polycrystalline gain media in non-selective unpolarized, linearly polarized, and twisted mode cavities. Lasers were based on post-growth diffusion-doped, commercially available antireflective-coated Cr:ZnSe and Cr:ZnS polycrystals with a length of 9 mm. The spectral output of lasers based on these gain elements in non-selective unpolarized and linearly polarized cavities was measured to be broadened to ∼20-50 nm due to the spatial hole burning (SHB) effect.

Lasing in 15 atm CO cell optically pumped by a Fe:ZnSe laser.

10 µm lasing is studied in a compact CO-He cell pressurized up to 15 atm when optically pumped by a ∼50 mJ Fe:ZnSe laser tunable around 4.3 µm. The optimal pump wavelength and partial pressure of CO for generating 10 µm pulses are found to be ∼4.

High energy (0.8 J) mechanically Q-switched 2.94 μm Er:YAG laser.

We report a flashlamp pumped mechanically Q-switched (MQS) 2.94 μm Er:YAG laser based on a spinning mirror with a highest output energy of 805 mJ at a pulse duration of 61 ns and 13 MW of peak power at 1 Hz repetition rate. This record output energy was achieved with the use of 300 mm long MQS Er:YAG laser cavity consisting of a 70% output coupler, 7 × 120 mm AR coated Er(50%):YAG crystal, and 4200 rad/s angular speed of the spinning mirror.

Kerr-lens mode-locked Cr:ZnS oscillator reaches the spectral span of an optical octave.

We report, to the best of our knowledge, the first super-octave femtosecond polycrystalline Cr:ZnS laser at the central wavelength 2.4 µm. The laser is based on a non-polarizing astigmatic X-folded resonator with normal incidence mounting of the gain element.