Development of UV solid state laser sources based on Cerium activated crystals

In this work we present some laser experimental achievements obtained with the Ce:LiCaAlF₆ (CerLiCAF) active medium. The Ce:LiCAF belongs to the family of fluorides Ce³⁺ activated, which emit in the near UV with tunable emission. In particular it emits in the band 280-315 nm. The laser action was obtained by pumping CerLiCAF with frequency quadrupled Nd:YLF and Nd:YAG lasers. We developed a multi-kHz tunable laser with high quality beam, tunable in the range 280-315 nm and with an average power exceeding hundred of mW, pumping with a pulsed Nd:YLF laser. Due to the high quality of CerLiCAF crystal we grew, we were able to obtain the highest ever reported slope efficiency. We achieved also the highest ever reported energy of 26 mJ for a CerLiCAF tunable oscillator pumping with a single low repetition rate Nd:YAG IV^th harmonic laser. The wavelength coverage is further extended in the range 225-230 nm by means of nonlinear frequency mixing of the Ce:LiCAF output with the residual emission of the fundamental wavelength of the Nd:YAG laser.