Blue-light laser source by sum-frequency mixing in Nd:YAl3(BO3)4

Sum-frequency mixing in neodymium-doped YAl3(BO3)4 of its fundamental laser line at 1062 nm and the pump light from a tunable Ti:sapphire laser has been used to generate blue radiation from 435 to 465 nm in an end-pumped configuration. In nonoptimal preliminary experiments 22 μW at 458 nm was obtained out of 200 mW absorbed power at 807 nm. Nd:YAB, therefore, emerges as a promising laser material for diode-pumped solid-state lasers in the blue spectral region.