Q-switched and gain-switched Fe:ZnSe lasers tunable over 360–515 µm

We report on room temperature gain-switched and Q-switched Fe:ZnSe lasers tunable over 3.60-5.15 µm pumped by radiation of an 2.94 µm Er:YAG laser. The maximum output energy was measured to be 5 mJ under 15 mJ of pump energy in gain-switched regime. We also demonstrated a mechanically Q-switched regime of oscillation of Fe:ZnSe lasers. This approach could be attractive for the development of high-energy short-pulse solid-state mid-IR systems operating over 3.6-5.2 µm spectral range.