Blue-Diode-Pumped Alexandrite Laser

We report a blue-diode-pumped Alexandrite laser operating at 754nm with 0.5W of output laser power with an optical efficiency of 20%. We provide a comparison of blue-diode-pumping to red-diode-pumping to show its potential as a low-cost alternative due to the availability of low-cost high-power blue-diodes. A comparison of the laser characteristics is provided as well as a study of the thermal lensing for blue-diode-pumping for the very first time.