Low-Quantum-Defect CW and Q-Switched Operation of a Tm3+:YAP Laser with the In-Band Fiber-Laser Pumping

Solid-state lasers based on Tm-doped materials and operating at 1.9 – 2.0 µm wavelengths have a variety of applications in surgery, materials processing, environmental monitoring and pumping of lasers and mid-IR optical parametric oscillators [1] . Tm:YAP is a crystal widely used in the diode-pumped 2-µm lasers due to its high thermal conductivity, intrinsic birefringence and wide emission band [2] , [3] . In this paper we report an efficient Tm:YAP laser with the linear or L-shaped cavity which was in-band pumped by a fiber laser at 1670 nm.