Subnanosecond 1.3-μm laser for generating picosecond pulses in the long-wavelength infrared range

We report the development of a seeded diode-pumped 1338-nm Nd:YAG amplifier which delivers 400-ps, 6-mJ, single-frequency pulses every half second with a fluctuation of similar to 0.7%. A highly stable pulsed current controller is constructed to drive an 808-nm diode laser array that ensures the high stability of the laser. Numerical calculations show that 9.2 mu m or 10.2-mu m picosecond (<10 ps) pulses with 100-mu J energy can be generated by mixing the 1338-nm 6-mJ pulses with 1540-nm chirped pulses in a BGGSe nonlinear crystal and com-pressing the pulse with a grating compressor.