Continuous-wave high-power Nd:YAG-KNbO3 laser at 473 nm

A continuous-wave high-power Nd:YAG laser operating on the ⁴F_3/2→⁴I_9/2 transition at 946 nm and intracavity frequency-doubled to 473 nm by a KNbO₃ nonlinear crystal at room temperature is reported. The Nd:YAG laser outputs a randomly polarized beam of 3.8 W maximum power (38% optical-to-optical efficiency and 44% slope efficiency with respect to the absorbed pump power) at the 946 nm fundamental wavelength. Intracavity frequency-doubling with a 2.0-mm thick KNbO₃ crystal in a linear resonator yielded 159-mW single-ended blue-output with 4.8% optical-to-optical conversion efficiency versus the absorbed pump power. The 473-nm maximum power of 418 mW with 11.6% optical-to-optical conversion efficiency in absorbed power was obtained from a V-type resonator; the overall optical-to-optical conversion efficiency was 6.7%, while the conversion of the available infrared power reached 50%.