In this paper, we report on a wide wavelength tuning optical vortex carrying orbital angular momentum (OAM) of ±ħ, from a thulium-doped yttrium aluminum perovskite (YAP) laser employing a birefringent filter. The OAM is experimentally found to be well maintained during the whole wavelength tuning process. The Laguerre–Gaussian (LG0,+1) mode with a tuning range of 58 nm from 1934.8 to 1993.0 nm and LG0,-1 mode with a range of 76 nm from 1920.4 to 1996.6 nm, are, respectively, obtained. This is, to the best of our knowledge, the first experimental implementation of wavelength tuning for a scalar vortex laser in the 2 µm spectral range, as well as the broadest tuning range ever reported from the vortex laser cavity. Such a vortex laser with robust structure and straightforward wavelength tuning capability will be an ideal light source for potential applications in the field of optical communication with one additional degree of freedom.

The anisotropy of thermal property in an Yb,Nd:Sc2SiO5 crystal is investigated from the temperature of 293 to 573 K. Based on the systematical study of thermal expansion, thermal diffusivity, and specific heat, the thermal conductivity in Yb,Nd:Sc2SiO5 crystals orientated at (100), (010), (001), and (406) is calculated to be 3.46, 2.60, 3.35, and 3.68W/(m·K), respectively. The laser output anisotropy of a continuous-wave (CW) and tunable laser is characterized, accordingly. A maximum output power of 6.09 W is achieved in the Yb,Nd:Sc2SiO5 crystal with (010) direction, corresponding to a slope efficiency of 48.56%. The tuning wavelength range in the Yb,Nd:Sc2SiO5 crystal orientated at (100), (010), and (001) is 68, 67, and 65 nm, separately. The effects of thermal properties on CW laser performance are discussed.

With a Nd:ScYSiO₅ crystal, a high peak power electro-optically Q-switched 1.0 μm laser and tri-wavelength laser operations at the 1.3 μm band are both investigated. With a rubidium titanyle phosphate (RTP) electro-optical switcher and a polarization beam splitter, a high signal-to-noise ratio 1.0 μm laser is obtained, generating a shortest pulse width of 30 ns, a highest pulse energy of 0.765 mJ, and a maximum peak power of 25.5 kW, respectively. The laser mode at the highest laser energy level is the TEM₀₀ mode with the M² value in the X and Y directions to be M_x² = 1.52 and M_y² = 1.54. A tri-wavelength Nd:ScYSiO₅ crystal laser at 1.3 μm is also investigated. A maximum tri-wavelength output power is 1.03 W under the absorbed pump power of 7 W, corresponding to a slope efficiency of 14.8%. The properties of the output wavelength are fully studied under different absorbed pump power.

Rhenium disulfide (ReS2), a member of group VII transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs), has attracted increasing attention because of its unique distorted 1T structure and electronic and optical properties, which are much different from those of group VI TMDs (MoS2, WS2, MoSe2, WSe2, etc.). It has been proved that bulk ReS2 behaves as a stack of electronically and vibrationally decoupled monolayers, which offers remarkable possibilities to prepare a monolayer ReS2 facilely and offers a novel platform to study photonic properties of TMDs. However, due to the large and layer-independent bandgap, the nonlinear optical properties of ReS2 from the visible to mid-infrared spectral range have not yet been investigated. Here, the band structure of ReS2 with the introduction of defects is simulated by the ab initio method, and the results indicate that the bandgap can be reduced from 1.38 to 0.54 eV with the introduction of defects in a suitable range. In the experiment, using a bulk ReS2 with suitable defects as the raw material, a few-layered broadband ReS2 saturable absorber (SA) is prepared by the liquid phase exfoliation method. Using the as-prepared ReS2 SA, passively Q-switched solid-state lasers at wavelengths of 0.64, 1.064, and 1.991 μm are in

In this Letter, we demonstrate the anisotropy of laser emission in disordered Nd:ScYSiO5 (Nd:SYSO) crystals cut along the optical indicatrix axes. High-powered lasers with different oscillation wavelengths and polarizations are realized by using different oriented crystals as gain media. For Y-cut crystals, the dual-wavelength laser vibration direction is found to be along the X axis and a maximum output power of 9.43 W is obtained, giving an optical-to-optical conversion efficiency of 48.8% and a slope efficiency of 51.3%. For X- and Z-cut crystals, 1075 and 1078 nm lasers operating orthogonally polarize oscillate with total output powers of 7.07 and 8.43 W, respectively. The experimental results reveal that the intrinsic anisotropy for the monoclinic disordered laser crystals could make laser design flexible and controllable.