High-energy diode side-pumped Er:YLF laser generating 100 mJ @ 100 Hz

We report on a newly developed high-energy diode side-pumped Er:YLF solid state laser emitting at at 2.81 μm. The pulsed laser generates 100 mJ pulses at 400 μs and 100 Hz, respectively 10W average laser power. The laser operates efficiently at room temperature and has a good beam quality of M² < 12. The long lifetime of the upper laser level and the inherently linearly polarized laser beam of Er:YLF enables efficient Q-switching for tissue ablation with nanosecond pulses and pumping of non-linear crystals for mid-IR generation.