Tunable Cr (4+): YSO Q-switched Cr: LiCAF laser

Flash-lamp pumping at room temperature helps analyze tunable passive Q-switching of a Cr3:LiCaAlF6 (Cr:Li-CAF) laser with a Cr4+:Y2SiO5 (Cr4+:YSO) broad-band solid state saturable absorber. Bleaching experiments suggest ground state and excited state absorption cross sections of the Cr4+:YSO absorber to be (7.0 plus or minus 1.4) x 10(super -19) square cm and (2.3 plus or minus 0.5) x 10(super-19) square cm at 694 nm. The Cr:LiCAF passive Q-switching with the absorber is reproduced using numerical simulations.