All-solid-state yellow laser source with 1W average power

Summary form only given. Stimulated Raman shifting (SRS) in optical crystals offers a practical and efficient approach to frequency down conversion of solid-state lasers. When used in combination with second harmonic generation (SHG) in a second crystal, a variety of wavelengths in the visible can be targetted. In this paper we report the use of such a scheme to generate 0.96 W output at 580 nm, a wavelength which coincides with an absorption band of haemoglobin, and is of particular interest for a range of medical applications. The approach we have adopted is to perform intracavity SRS of Nd:YAG laser radiation (1064 nm) in LiIO/sub 3/ to generate the first Stokes wavelength at 1160 nm, which is then converted to 580 nm by SHG in LiB/sub 3/O/sub 5/ also performed intracavity.