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We report on the design and preliminary development of a micro laser (MILD) breadboard (BB). The laser source is designed to be used as the transmitter unit of a laser altimeter for planetary investigations. The reference scenario is the ESA BepiColombo mission to Mercury (presently scheduled to be launched in 2012) but possible applications to minor solar system bodies may be included. In order to fulfil the laser source requirements for this kind of application we adopted a master-oscillator-power-amplifier (MOPA) scheme. Analysis of the MO efficiency, pulse duration and beam characterisation in different resonator configurations is described together with the preliminary PA performance on a ± 10 °C temperature range. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A spectroscopic characterization of Tm-Ho:KYF4 crystals with different doping levels is presented. A comparative investigation based on diode-pumped 2-μm laser experiments shows that the best trade-off in terms of cw output power characteristics and wavelength tuning ranges is obtained with 5% Tm-0.5% Ho active crystal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report on the development and comprehensive characterization of a room-temperature single-mode 2-µm Tm-Ho: KYF laser. A maximum CW output power of ∼70 mW at the central wavelength of 2.078 µm has been obtained. Using a 5-mm long intracavity birefringent filter the single-mode emission wavelength can be tuned over a range of ∼40 nm. Both frequency and relative intensity noise have been investigated showing a 1-ms emission linewidth of ∼600 kHz and an intensity noise spectrum that is quantum-noise limited for Fourier frequencies higher than 1 MHz. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Single crystals of monoclinic BaY[sub 2]F[sub 8] and tetragonal LiYF[sub 4] codoped with the same Tm[sup 3+] and Ho[sup 3+] concentrations were successfully grown by the Czochralski method. Here we present a comparative analysis of the two hosts including spectroscopic characterization and cw diode-pumped laser experiments in the 2-µm wavelength region at room temperature. The main differences between the two hosts are a lower slope efficiency associated with a much wider tuning range (2005-2094 nm) of BaY[sub 2]F[sub 8] with respect to LiYF[sub 4]. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]