The effects of temperature on different laser transitions of neodymium orthovanadate crystal

Abstract

The temperature dependence of Nd:YVO4 laser crystal pumped by laser diode emitting at 808 nm is studied within the range of 5 °C to 60 °C. The spectroscopy properties of quasi three level at 914 nm (4F3/2 -4I9/2) and four level at 1064 nm (4F3/2 -4I11/2) are characterized. The lineshape function of the transition lines were broadened as the temperature increases. The phenomenon is attributed to change in linewidth, lineshift and intensity. The linewidths for both laser transition of 914 nm and 1064 nm increases with temperature with the rate of 0.105 cm-1/°C and 0.074 cm-1/°C respectively. The peak of 914nm and 1064 nm lineshapes shifted to a longer wavelength with the rate of 3.0 pm/°C and 4.2 pm/°C respectively which correspond to same amount of lineshift. The lineshape broadening with respect to the temperature is due to one-phonon emission and Raman phonon scattering processes. The intensities of 914 nm and 1064 nm transition lines are found to be decreased at the rate of 0.15 %/°C and 0.45 %/°C respectively due to non-radiative effects. Quasi three level laser transition is more temperature dependent because it terminal level is close to the ground state which suffers from higher phonon-ion interaction rather than four level laser system.