Simultaneous oscillations of 1318.8nm, 1320.0nm, 1332.6nm, 1335.0nm, 1338.2nm and 1339.0nm in a side, pulsed-diode-laser-array pumped Nd:YAG laser is realized for both free running and Q-switched operation. An average power of 1.1W is obtained for an absorbed pump power of 7.1W with an effective optical slope efficiency of 33%. The difference frequency interactions among these wavelengths may be used to generate radiation in the range 0.13-3.43THz. With the two most intense lines at 1318.8nm and 1338.2nm, it is possible to generate coherent radiation at 3.3THz with numerically estimated peak power of 0.21W in a 1.5mm thick GaSe crystal.

The stability and the peak power of a nonlinear-mirror mode-locked Nd:YVO(4) laser are significantly increased by the insertion of an acousto-optic modulator inside the laser cavity. The repetition rate for reliable operation can be varied in the range 35 kHz - 50 kHz. The laser generates the most intense and stable mode-locked pulses of width 9 ps lying underneath a Q-switched envelope of width 110 ns with a Q-switch modulation frequency of 38 kHz. For 10 W of pump power, a 224 times enhancement of peak power over that of cw mode-locking is obtained under reliable Q-switched and mode-locked operation.

Large nonlinear phase shift achieved by exploiting intracavity second order cascaded nonlinear process in a non-phasematched second harmonic generating crystal is transformed into amplitude modulation through soft aperturing the nonlinear cavity mode variation within the laser gain medium to mode-lock a Nd:YVO4 laser. The laser delivers stable dual wavelength cw mode-locked pulse train with pulse duration 10.3 ps and average power of 1.84 W and 255 mW at 1064 nm and 532 nm respectively for a pump power of 12 W. A comprehensive theoretical analysis finds the regime of self starting and stable cascaded second order mode-locking, inconformity with the experimental result.

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