Found this crystal on ebay:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/301244743484
The seller says the AR coating is a yellowish-greenish tint, probably for 1500 nm. Does this prevent use with a 808nm pump and KTP crystal?
http://i853.photobucket.com/albums/a...psde773f39.jpg
I want to make my own high power 532nm pointer someday and looking for parts.
1. No visible purple tint that changes color with angle and ambient lighting in the crystal, probably undoped YV04 used as a high index of refraction optic.
2. C Band coating, 1550 nm. Doped Vandate does not lase significantly in 1550 region.
Rough conclusion: Its a compensator optic of some sort for a Mid IR telecom device and not a laser crystal.
For known good laser crystals, I'm going to put a plug in here for my former employer, Altos Photonics. You might pay 2X over Ebay, but Russian grown crystals and Lithuanian Optical Coatings are actually quite good. (Well, Actually superb !) That way you know what your getting and the prices are reasonable. If you dig deep enough into the Altos Website you'll find the Eksma Optics laser crystals page (Not the Rods page) with actual US prices. If not, call the office and get a quote.
Really, really, screaming lasers need "capped" vanadate with un-doped ends fused onto the doped Vanadate or you need a high Quality oriented and coated crystal like Altos sells.
Having built or repaired a few lasers, I'm weary of Ebay DPSS parts. Eksma treats their parts as if they are all destined for lab service, so the coatings are good and the orientations are correct.
Steve
I will second Steve's recommendation of Altos (Eksma), a more limited selection of some basic optics, but an extraordinary selection of Nd crystals, optics, gain media and NLO's. They have very good quality, AMAZING prices and very reasonable custom quotes. I would generally stay away from eBay, read some papers and learn what you really need and then go to them and get something that will really work and work well.
Wow, I didn't know the prices of new crystals could be that reasonable, thank you for helping. I went to the Altos Photonics web site and was pleased to find what I have been looking for, but didn't know where to go other than ebay.
Now to find some capped vanadate with un-doped ends fused onto it, please let me know if you all see something out there :)
Actually, I have worked with this and the cost tends to run 3 times higher. That is not an exaggeration, it runs about that ratio and the improvement in performance is not very significant despite what I have read. You will get more value for your money by specifying the correct doping ratio. I have worked with 0.15% to 0.8% and 0.5% is a pretty safe bet. Go lower if you can go longer, but here you will need a tighter pump such as a 200um fiber with a longer lens. Go higher if your pump power is not very high and your crystal is shorter.Quote:
Now to find some capped vanadate with un-doped ends fused onto it, please let me know if you all see something out there