Subnanosecond 1.3-μm laser for generating picosecond pulses in the long-wavelength infrared range.

We report the development of a seeded diode-pumped 1338-nm Nd:YAG amplifier which delivers 400-ps, 6-mJ, single-frequency pulses every half second with a fluctuation of ∼ 0.7%. A highly stable pulsed current controller is constructed to drive an 808-nm diode laser array that ensures the high stability of the laser. Numerical calculations show that 9.2 μm or 10.2-μm picosecond (<10 ps) pulses with 100-μJ energy can be generated by mixing the 1338-nm 6-mJ pulses with 1540-nm chirped pulses in a BGGSe nonlinear crystal and compressing the pulse with a grating compressor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]