Output properties of diode-pumped passively Q-switched 1.06 μm Nd:GdVO4 laser using a [100]-cut Cr4+:YAG crystal

Abstract

A passively Q-switched 1.06 µm Nd:GdVO 4 laser with a [100]-cut Cr 4+ :YAG saturable absorber was demonstrated. The output characteristics were investigated when the anisotropic transmission of Cr 4+ :YAG crystal and the incident pump power level were considered. The experimental results showed that it was feasible to generate laser with narrower pulse width (τ p ), higher pulse energy and peak power when the polarization direction of laser was parallel to the [001], [010], [001], and [010] orientations of the Cr 4+ :YAG crystal. The different changes of τ p as a function of incident pump power was observed due to the anisotropy of transmission of Cr 4+ :YAG and the different gain levels (pump power levels). If the Cr 4+ :YAG was fully bleached as a result of high cavity gain or due to the laser polarization direction was parallel to the [001], [010], [001], and [010] orientations, τ p was constant, otherwise τ p decreased when the gain increased.

Continuous-wave and passively Q-switched Nd:GYTO4 laser

“…The measured results are shown in figures 5 and 6. From figure 5, we can see that the pulse width was insensitive to absorbed pump power, which agreed with the [16,17]. The measured pulse widths were about 22 ns and 32 ns for Cr 4+ :YAG crystals with initial transmission of 90% and 95% respectively.…”

Diode-pumped continuous-wave and passively Q-switched 1066 nm Nd:GYNbO4 laser

“…Passive Q-switching techniques have the advantages of lower cost, compactness, simplicity in set-up and operation since they do not require external control. Cr 4+ :YAG as saturable absorber has the advantages of improved thermo-mechanical properties, large absorption cross sections, low saturable intensities and high damage thresholds [4,5]. Neodymium ion-hosted crystals such as Nd:YAG have been widely employed to construct laserdiode pumped solid-state lasers in the near-infrared region with the merits of low cost, high efficiency and compactness.…”

The optimization of a diode‐pumped continuous‐wave Nd:GdNbO4 laser under direct pumping

“…[11][12][13][14][15][16][17] A new crystal of Nd:GdNbO 4 was grown successfully in the year of 2017. 18 Because both niobium (Nb) and vanadium (V) elements are in the same group of the periodic table of chemical elements, and vanadates, which are represented by Nd:GdVO 4 and Nd:YVO 4 , have exhibited excellent laser performance, 19,20 Nd:GdNbO 4 has attracted much interest and expectation in the recent years. A 1066 nm Nd:GdNbO 4 laser with the highest CW output power of 1.09 W and slope efficiency of 19.2% was reported firstly when an 808 nm laser diode (LD) was used as pumping source.…”