Crystalline passive Q-switching of 1.3-µm Nd-lasers and Raman shifting to eye-safe region

Stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) of 1.3-µm radiation of Nd-lasers can be used to obtain radiation in eye-safe spectral region. For this purpose it is necessary to have an appropriate pump laser operating in Q-switched mode and active medium for SRS. The simplest and most reliable Q-switching of Nd-lasers at 1.3-µm wavelength can be realized by using crystalline saturable absorbers (SA). Nowadays only a limited number of dielectric crystals, which possess nonlinear saturable absorption in the desired region, are known. In this paper we report on a study of Q-switching mode of operation of 1.3-µm Nd-lasers with the Nd2+:SrF2 and V3+:YAG crystalline SA, and Raman shifting of this laser wavelength in Ba(NO3)2 crystal to eye-safe spectral region.