Applied Physics Letters — February 16, 2004 — Volume 84, Issue 7, pp. 1040-1042
Thermal effects in quasi-continuous-wave Nd3+:Y3Al5O12 nanocrystalline-powder random laser
Yan Feng, Jean-Francois Bisson, Jianren Lu, Shenghong Huang, Kazunori Takaichi, Akira Shirakawa, Mitsuru Musha, and Ken-ichi Ueda
Institute for Laser Science, University of Electro-Communications, 1-5-1 Chofugaoka, Chofu, Tokyo 182-8585, Japan
(Received 14 October 2003; accepted 19 December 2003)
We report an experimental investigation on the thermal effects in a Nd3+:Y3Al5O12 nanocrystalline-powder random laser with a one-mirror structure by quasi-continuous-wave laser diode pumping. Extremely low thermal conductivity in powder and significant temperature dependence of the narrow emission spectrum of Nd3+:Y3Al5O12 leads to a laser line redshift and gain reduction with a higher heat deposit. Mode drifting induced by the temperature dependence of the refractive index is also discussed. ©2004 American Institute of Physics.