Pulsed pumping of semiconductor disk lasers

Efficient operation of semiconductor disk lasers is demonstrated using uncooled and inexpensive 905nm high-power pulsed semiconductor pump lasers. Laser emission, with a peak power of 1.7W, is obtained from a 2.3 mu m semiconductor disk laser. This is seven times the power achieved under continuous pumping. Analysis of the time-dependent spectral characteristics of the laser demonstrate that significant device heating occurs over the 100-200ns duration of the pumping pulse-finite element modelling of the thermal processes is undertaken in support of these data. Spectral narrowing to below 0.8nm is obtained by using an intra-cavity birefringent filter.