Lasing characteristics of Yb-doped gadolinium yttrium mixed oxyorthosilicate Yb:(Gd0.1Y0.9)2SiO5

A continuous wave (CW) tunable laser based on an alloyed oxyorthosilicate Yb:(Gd0.1Y0.9)2SiO5 was demonstrated for the first time. With an output coupler (OC) of T = 10%, a maximum output power of 958 mW was obtained with a slope efficiency of 18.2%. Simultaneous multi-wavelength operation was also observed with an OC of T = 4%. The M2 factor of the CW laser beam was measured to be 1.06. The thermo-optic coefficient was estimated to be 7.1 × 10−6/K. By using a 400 μm-thick GaAs wafer as saturable absorber, a stably Q-switched laser at 1080.4 nm was also firstly realized. A minimum pulse duration of 60.2 ns was obtained with a repetition rate of 47.6 kHz under an absorbed pump power of 11.25 W. The corresponding highest pulse energy and peak power were 5.3 μJ and 88 W, respectively. By using a V-type cavity and an OC of T = 4%, the laser can be tuned in the range from 1021 to 1094 nm.