Sodium D2 resonance radiation based on intracavity sum-frequency-mixing laser operation in Nd:GdVO4–Nd:YLiF4 crystals

We present a laser architecture to obtain continuous-wave orange–yellow radiation at 589 nm. A 808 nm diode-pumped the Nd:GdVO4 crystal emitting at 1341 nm. A part of the pump power was then absorbed by the Nd:GdVO4 crystal. The remainder was used to pump the Nd:YLiF4 (Nd:YLF) crystal emitting at 1053 nm. Intracavity sum-frequency-mixing at 1341 and 1053 nm was then realized in a LiB3O5 (LBO) crystal to produce orange–yellow radiation. We obtained a continuous-wave output power of 352 mW at 589 nm with a pump laser diode emitting 18.4 W at 808 nm. (letter)