A high-power high-stability Q-switched green laser with intracavity frequency doubling using a diode-pumped composite ceramic Nd：YAG laser

We successfully obtain a high-average-power high-stability Q-switched green laser based on diode-side-pumped composite ceramic Nd:YAG in a straight plano-concave cavity. The temperature distribution in composite ceramic Nd:YAG crystal is numerically analyzed and compared with that of conventional Nd:YAG crystal. By using a composite ceramic Nd:YAG rod and a type-II high gray track resistance KTP (HGTR-KTP) crystal, a green laser with an average output power of 165 W is obtained at a repetition rate of 25 kHz, with a diode-to-green optical conversion of 14.68%, and a pulse width of 162 ns. To the best of our knowledge, both the output power and optical-to-optical efficiency are the highest values for green laser systems with intracavity frequency doubling of this novel composite ceramic Nd:YAG laser to date. The power fluctuation at around 160 W is lower than 0.3% in 2.5 hours.     

Green Output of 1.5 W from a Diode-Pumped Intracavity Frequency-Doubled Self-Q-Switched and Mode-Locked Cr,Nd：YAG Laser

We report a diode-pumped intracavity frequency-doubled self-Q-switched and mode-locked Cr,Nd：YAG/KTP green laser with a Z-type cavity, which produces 1.5 W of average power at 532nm with incident pump power 14.2 W. The individual mode-locked green pulse duration is about 560ps with 149 MHz repetition rate. Almost 100% modulation depth of the mode-locked green pulses is achieved at an incident pump power of 4.13 W. The maximum energy of Q-switched green pulse is 19.8μJ. The experimental results of pulse duration and pulse energy of Q-switched green pulse agree well with the theoretical calculations.     

Passively Q-Switched Nd,Cr:YAG Laser Simultaneous Dual-Wavelength Operation at 946 nm and 1.3μm

A diode-end-pumped Q-switched high-efficiency Nd,Cr:YAG laser with simultaneous dual-wavelength emission at 946 nm and 1.3μm is demonstrated.The maximum output power of 1.93 W with simultaneous dual-wavelength operation is achieved at an absorbed pump power of 13.32 W and an absorbed slope efficiency of 15.15%.The maximum optical-optical efficiency is 14.49% with pulse widths of 16.38 ns at 946 nm and 26.65 ns at 1.3 μm.A maximum total repetition rate of 43.25 kHz is obtained.     

Diode-pumped passively Q-switched and mode-locked Nd:YLF laser with Cr~(4+):YAG saturable absorber

A diode-pumped passively Q-switched Nd:YLF laser was demonstrated by using saturable absorber of Cr4 :YAG. At the incident power of 7.74 W, pure passively Q-switched laser with per pulse energy of 210μJ and pulse width of 19.6 ns at repetition rate of 1.78 kHz was obtained by using Cr4 :YAG with initial transmission of 80%. At the incident power of 8.70 W, a Q-switched mode-locking with average output power of 650 mW was achieved, the overall slop efficiency was 16%, corresponding to the initial transmission of 85% of Cr4 :YAG.     

Three-nanosecond-equal interval sub-pulse Nd:YAG laser with multi-step active Q-switching

We demonstrate a three-nanosecond equidistant sub-pulse multi-step Q-switched Nd:Y3 Al5 O12(Nd:YAG) laser. In the time interval of 100–1000 ns, three pulses with the same nanosecond interval and the same peak power are obtained at the pulse width of 24 ns, 28 ns, and 36.6 ns, respectively. The energy is 32.5 m J, and the optical efficiency is 10.8%. The multi-step Q-switched method does not require the insertion of other optical elements into the traditional Q-switched laser, and it is very suitable to obtain pulse group output with several nanosecond pulse intervals.     

Diode-Pumped Passive Q-Switched 946 nm Nd：YAG Laser with a GaAs Saturable Absorber

We report, for the first time to our knowledge, a diode-pumped passive Q-switched 946nm Nd：YAG laser by using a GaAs as saturable absorber. The maximum average output power is 1.24 W at an incident pump power of 15 W, corresponding to a slope efficiency of 10%. Laser pulses with pulse duration of 70ns and repetition rate of 330 kHz are generated.     

High-power near diffraction-limited 1 064-nm Nd:YAG rod laser and second harmonic generation by intracavity-frequency-doubling

We present a near diffraction-limited 1 064-nm Nd:YAG rod laser with output power of 82.3 W(M~2≈1.38). The power fluctuation over two hours is better than±1.1%.Pulsed 1064-nm laser with an average power of 66.6 W and pulse width of 46 ns are achieved when the laser is Q-switched at a repetition rate of 10 kHz.The short pulse duration stems from the short cavity as well as the high-gain laser modules. Using intracavity-frequency-doubling,a 35.0-W near diffraction-limited 532-nm green laser(M~2≈1.32) is achieved with a pulse width of 43 ns.     

An efficient intracavity-pumped KTP optical parametric oscillator at 1572 nm

We demonstrate an efficient and eye-safe wavelength intracavity optical parametric oscillator (OPO), based on a KTP crystal inside a Q-switched Nd:YVO4 laser end pumped by a fiber-coupled diode laser. In the acousto-optic Q-switched operation with the pulse repetition rate of 10 kHz, a 1572-nm eye-safe laser with the average power of 237 mW at the incident pump power of 5.64 W is obtained. Under the pulse repetition rate of 5 kHz, the signal light with pulse width of 2 ns and peak power of 18.5 kW is achieved. The conversion efficiency of the average power is 4.2% from pump diode to OPO signal output and the signal pulse duration is about 13 times shorter than that of the depleted pump light.     

Diode-pumped passively Q-switched and mode-locked Nd:YLF laser with Cr4+:YAG saturable absorber

A diode-pumped passively Q-switched Nd:YLF laser was demonstrated by using saturable absorber of Cr4+:YAG. At the incident power of 7.74 W, pure passively Q-switched laser with per pulse energy of 210 Μj and pulse width of 19.6 ns at repetition rate of 1.78 kHz was obtained by using Cr4+:YAG with initial transmission of 80%. At the incident power of 8.70 W, a Q-switched mode-locking with average output power of 650 Mw was achieved, the overall slop efficiency was 16%, corresponding to the initial transmission of 85% of Cr4+ :YAG.     

High-Power Passively Q-Switched Nd:YAG Laser at 1112 nm with a Cr~(4+):YAG Saturable Absorber

A high-power passively Q-switched Nd:YAG laser operating at 1112 nm with Cr~(4+):YAG as a saturable absorber is demonstrated.Under 808 nm diode-direct pumping,the maximum average output power of 2.73 W is achieved at the pump power of 16.65 W,corresponding to an optical-to-optical conversion efficiency of 16.4%.At the same time,the pulse width,pulse repetition rate,single pulse energy and peak power are 27.2ns,9kHz,303.3μJ and11.2kW,respectively.As far as we know,the result gives the highest average output power at 1112 nm generated by an 808 nm diode-end-pumped Nd:YAG laser.     

Generation of high power laser at 1314 nm from a diode-side-pumped Nd:YLF module

We demonstrate a high power continuous-wave （CW） and acoustic-optically （AO） Q-switched 1314-nm laser with a diode-side-pumped Nd：YLF module. A maximum CW output power of 21.6 W is obtained with a diode pump power of 180 W, corresponding to an optical-to-optical conversion efficiency of 12.0% and a slope efficiency of 16.1%. In the Q-switching operation, a highest pulse energy of 3.8 mJ is obtained at a pulse repetition rate of 1 kHz. The shortest pulse width and maximum single peak power are 101.9 ns and 37.3 kW, respectively.     

Pre-pumped passively Q-switched Nd:YAG/Cr:YAG microchip laser

A pre-pumped passively Q-switched Nd:YAG/Cr: YAG microchip laser is demonstrated with a peak power of 7.5 kW at pulse repetition rate of serveral kilohertzs. The full-width at half-maximum (FWHM) is 734 ps, and the pulse energy is 5.5 μJ with a fundamental spatial mode. In this system, the pre-pumped microchip laser of Nd: YAG/Cr: YAG wafer which is bonded through the thermal-bonding technique has achieved a time jitter value of 12 μs and a Q-switched amplitude instability of 1.26% (1δ) through the pre-pumped modulation technique.     

Radially polarized and passively Q-switched Nd:YAG laser with composite structure of gain medium

We report on a radially polarized and passively Q-switched Nd:YAG/Cr4+:YAG laser.The bulk Nd:YAG crystal is bonded with two undoped YAG crystal end caps to weaken the thermal lens e?ect and thus,enhance the extraction of stored energy in the bulk gain material.In the absence of active water cooling,the average laser power reaches 383 mW with 33% slope efficiency,and the laser pulse achieves 1.457-W peak power,18.9-ns duration,and 13.9-kHz repetition rate with 97.6% polarization purity.     

Compact, Low Threshold Nd^3＋：YVO4 Self-Raman Laser at 1178 nm

A compact low-threshold Raman laser at 1178 nm is experimentally realized by using a diode-end-pumped actively Q-switched Nd^3＋ ：YVO4 self-Raman laser. The threshold is 370mW at a pulse repetition frequency of S kHz. The maximum Raman laser output is 182 m W with the pulse duration smaller than 20 ns at a pulse repetition frequency of 30kHz with 1.8 W incident power. The optical efficiency from the incident power to the Raman laser is 10% and the slope efficiency is 13.5%.     

High-power continuous-wave and high-energy Q-switched miniature Yb:Y_3Ga_5O_(12) crystal lasers

We report on the continuous-wave(CW) and passive Q-switching performance of a miniature Yb:Y_3Ga_5O_(12)crystal laser end pumped by a 935-nm diode laser. A maximum CW output power of 12.03 W is produced with an optical-to-optical efficiency of 54.4%, while the slope efficiency is 63%. In the passively Q-switched operation achieved with a Cr~(4+):YAG saturable absorber, an average output power of 2.12 W at 1025.2 nm is generated with a slope efficiency of 46% at a pulse repetition rate of 5.0 kHz. The pulse's energy, duration, and peak power are 424 μJ, 2.3 ns, and 184.3 k W, respectively.     

Experimental study of electro-optical-switched pulsed Nd:YAG laser

We report the specification of a compact and stable side diode-pumped Q-switched pulsed Nd:YAG laser. We experimentally study and compare the performance of the pulsed Nd:YAG laser in the free-running and Q-switched modes at different pulse repetition rates from 1 Hz to 100 Hz. The laser output energy is stabilized by using a special configuration of the optical resonator. In this laser, an unsymmetrical concave–concave resonator is used and this structure helps the mode volume to be nearly fixed when the pulse repetition rate is increased. According to the experimental results in the Q-switched operation, the laser output energy is nearly constant around 70 m J with an FWHM pulse width of 7 ns at100 Hz. The optical-to-optical conversion efficiency in the Q-switched regime is 17.5%.     

Kilohertz Electro-Optic Q-Switched Nd：YAG Ceramic Laser

We investigate the lasing characteristics of a laser-diode-array side-pumped electro-optic Q-switched Nd： Y3Al5O12 ceramic laser operating at 1000 Hz pulse repetition rate. Using a YAG polycrystalline rod with Nd^3＋ concentration of 1 at. % as the gain medium, pumping with 808 nm laser-diode-arrays, the Q-switched laser output at 1064 nm wavelength with 23mJ pulse energy and less than 12ns FWHM pulse width are obtained at a pumping power of about 400 W, the slope efficiency is around 15%, the output beam divergence angle is about 1.2mrad.     

Diode-Pumped Quasi-Three-Level Passively Q-Switched Nd：GGG Laser with a Codoped Nd,Cr：YAG Saturable Absorber

We demonstrate the first quasi-three-level passively Q-switched Nd：GGG laser at 937nm using a Nd, Cr：YAG crystal as the saturable absorber. The dependences of the average output power, the repetition rate and the pulse width on the incident pump power are obtained. A maximum average output power of 1.18 W with repetition rate of 35kHz and pulse width of 45ns is achieved at an incident pump power of 18.3 W. The corresponding optical-to-optical and slope efficiencies are 6% and 10%, respectively.     

Large-aperture end-pumped Nd：YAG thin-disk laser directly cooled by liquid

A large-aperture Nd:YAG thin-disk laser directly cooled by liquid is end-pumped by two spatial selforganized laser diode arrays. The pump coupling efficiency reaches as high as 93%. Without any complex pump coupling components, the structure becomes simplified and compact. By optimizing the incident angle of the pump beam, a pump power density of 578 W/cm2 is achieved with a pump uniformity of 5.52%. Up to 1 346-W peak output power with a slope efficiency of 54.9% is obtained when pumping with a long pulse. The near-field pattern of the laser output is uniform.     

A Diode-Stack End-Pumped Electro-Optically Q-Switched Nd:YAG Slab Oscillator--Amplifier System

A laser diode-stack end-pumped electro-optically Q-switched Nd：YAG slab oscillator-amplifier system with neardiffraction-limited output is demonstrated by a stable-unstable hybrid resonator. The average power of 100 W at a repetition rate of lOkHz with a pulse width 14.7ns and average power of 76.3 W at a repetition rate of 5kHz with a pulse width of 10.2ns are measured. At the repetition rate of 10 kHz and at an output power of 89 W, the beam quality factors M^2 in the unstable and stable directions are 1.3 and 1.5, respectively.