Pulsed azimuthally polarized beam from passively Q-switched rotating Nd:YAG disk laser

Abstract

A azimuthally polarized laser pulse was produced from a passively Q-switched rotating Nd:YAG disk laser with a Cr4+:YAG crystal as the saturable absorber and a uniaxial YVO4 crystal as the polarization selection. The averaged laser power reached 5.04 W with a slope efficiency of 40%. The laser pulse had a maximum peak power of 4.3 kW, minimum pulse duration of 31.07 ns, and a 37.3 kHz repetition rate at absorbed pump power 15.93 W. The polarization degree of the azimuthally polarized beam was measured to be about 97.3%. Such an azimuthally polarized laser pulse is important to numerous applications.