High average power 1.5 microm eye-safe Raman shifting in BaWO4 crystals.

A nanosecond 1.3 microm Nd:YAG laser-pumped external cavity eye-safe Raman laser based on BaWO(4) crystal is efficiently demonstrated. The average power of 1.5 microm was 0.60 W operating at a pulse repetition rate of 1.7 kHz and an incident pump power of 4.14 W. Conversion efficiency of 14.5% and a high slope efficiency of 54.5% have been achieved. Pulse shortening was obviously observed. The pulse duration of the first Stokes was about 40 ns, much shorter than the fundamental pulse with a duration of approximately 220 ns.