| Abstract [eng] |
Investigation of Nd:YVO4 Crystal Gain Bandwidth for Different Polarizations of the Seed Beam Neodymium-doped vanadate crystals, such as Nd:YVO4, Nd:GdVO4, or mixed Nd:YxGd1–xVO4 crystals, are efficient laser media and have a considerable potential for the flash-lamp and diode pumped solid state lasers as its good physical, optical and mechanical properties. Their laser characteristics and their thermal properties are superior to those of Nd:YAG and, therefore, they are promising substitutes for diode-pumped Nd:YAG lasers. Broader emission spectra allow for new functionalities of lasers based on c-cut Nd:YVO4, Nd:GdVO4, or mixed Nd:YxGd1–xVO4 vanadate crystals such as: new wavelength of laser generation, spectrally tunable radiation, two-colour lasing, possibility of THz radiation generation, possibility of subpicosecond pulses generation. The purpose of this experimental work is to measure the gain bandwidth of a Nd:YVO4 single crystal with different polarizations of the seed source. The main objectives of this work are: 1. Assembly and alignment of experimental scheme. 2. Measurement of the gain depending on the wavelength with different polarizations of the seed source. 3. Comparison of gains and gain bandwidth. The gain bandwidth for π – polarization was about 6 times narrower than for σ – polarization, but the gain for π – polarization was about 5 times larger than the maximum gain for σ – polarization. The gain bandwidth for σ – polarizationconsists of three spectral lines: 1062.6 nm, 1064.7 nm and 1066.3 nm. The gain between these lines decreases by about 7.5 times of π – polarization gain. The large gain bandwidth for σ – polarization would not allow the use of c – cut Nd:YVO4 single crystal directly for the amplification of sub–picosecond seed pulses, especially in a regenerative or multipass amplifier configurations. |
