Diode Pumping Of Nd : Asl And Its Frequency Doubling For Blue Emission Around 450 Nm

We present the diode pumping of a Nd-doped strontium and lanthanum (Nd:ASL) crystal Sr1-xLax-yNdyMgxAl12-xO19 (0.05 <= x <= 0.5; y =0.05) for second harmonic generation around 450 rim. In order to fulfill the pumping requirements of this crystal, we have developed a high-brightness pump source based on a tapered amplifier in an extended cavity with a volume Bragg grating for wavelength stabilization. A pump brightness of I 10 MW center dot cm(-2) sr(-1) has been obtained with a linewidth lower than 80 pm at 798 rim. This laser source has been used to pump a Nd:ASL crystal to obtain 300 mW at 906 rim and 53 mW at 453 run by intracavity doubling with a LBO crystal.