A high power solid-state laser system for lithium atom experiments

Frequency doubled 1342 nm solid-state ring lasers are a promising alternative to external cavity diode lasers and tapered amplifiers for producing light around the lithium D line resonances. They are capable of achieving the significantly higher power necessary for many cutting-edge experiments. To this end we present an 888 nm pumped Nd:GdVO4 ring laser with a 1.8 nm tuning range centered around 1341.2 nm. We then frequency double this laser to achieve high power light near 671 nm. Furthermore, we provide a high resolution measurement of the gain spectrum of Nd:GdVO4 around 1342 nm and characterize the thermal lensing due to the high-power pump laser in our system.