New pumping scheme increases efficiency of blue upconversion lasers

Researchers at the Center for Research and Education in Optics and Lasers (CREOL, Orlando, FL) have proposed a direct pumping method for Yb3+ and Tm3+ codoped fluoride crystals that promises to be more efficient than existing schemes. The Tm3+ ions are directly populated by pumping at 780 nm, then a twoste¥process transfers energy to Yb3+ and back to Tm3+ ions; excitedstate Tm3+ ions then radiatively decay at blue wavelengths.

Picosecond OPO produces highpower transformlimited pulses