TY - JOUR
T1 - Efficient passive Q-switching operation of a diode-pumped Nd:GdVO4 laser with a Cr4+:YAG saturable absorber
AU - Liu, Junhai
AU - Ozygus, Bernd
AU - Yang, Suhui
AU - Erhard, Jürgen
AU - Seelig, Ute
AU - Ding, Adalbert
AU - Weber, Horst
AU - Meng, Xianlin
AU - Zhu, Li
AU - Qin, Lianjie
AU - Du, Chenlin
AU - Xu, Xinguang
AU - Shao, Zongshu
PY - 2003/4
Y1 - 2003/4
N2 - A diode-pumped highly efficient Cr4+:YAG passively Q-switched Nd:GdVO4 laser formed by a plano-concave resonator has been demonstrated. At the highest attainable absorbed pump power of 11.4 W, 4.05 W of average output power, which was two thirds of the maximum corresponding cw output, was achieved with an optical conversion efficiency of 35.5%, and the slope efficiency was determined to be 46.8%, reaching 85% of the magnitude of its cw counterpart. The resulting shortest pulse duration, single-pulse energy, and peak power were found to be 13 ns, 90 μJ, and 7 kW, respectively, with a pulse repetition frequency (PRF) of 45 kHz. Two particularly modified resonator configurations were employed; the largest pulse energy and the highest peak power reached were, respectively, 154 μJ and 11.2 kW at 8.5 W of absorbed pump power. An analytical relation between the PRF and the absorbed pump power is given for a passively Q-switched laser, showing good consistency with experiment with a Nd:GdVO4 laser. The dependence of the operational parameters on the pump power and on the output coupling was also investigated experimentally. Issues involving the criterion for passive Q switching are discussed in some detail for Cr4+:YAG passively Q-switched neodymium-doped vanadate lasers.
AB - A diode-pumped highly efficient Cr4+:YAG passively Q-switched Nd:GdVO4 laser formed by a plano-concave resonator has been demonstrated. At the highest attainable absorbed pump power of 11.4 W, 4.05 W of average output power, which was two thirds of the maximum corresponding cw output, was achieved with an optical conversion efficiency of 35.5%, and the slope efficiency was determined to be 46.8%, reaching 85% of the magnitude of its cw counterpart. The resulting shortest pulse duration, single-pulse energy, and peak power were found to be 13 ns, 90 μJ, and 7 kW, respectively, with a pulse repetition frequency (PRF) of 45 kHz. Two particularly modified resonator configurations were employed; the largest pulse energy and the highest peak power reached were, respectively, 154 μJ and 11.2 kW at 8.5 W of absorbed pump power. An analytical relation between the PRF and the absorbed pump power is given for a passively Q-switched laser, showing good consistency with experiment with a Nd:GdVO4 laser. The dependence of the operational parameters on the pump power and on the output coupling was also investigated experimentally. Issues involving the criterion for passive Q switching are discussed in some detail for Cr4+:YAG passively Q-switched neodymium-doped vanadate lasers.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=0037835860&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1364/JOSAB.20.000652
DO - 10.1364/JOSAB.20.000652
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:0037835860
SN - 0740-3224
VL - 20
SP - 652
EP - 661
JO - Journal of the Optical Society of America B: Optical Physics
JF - Journal of the Optical Society of America B: Optical Physics
IS - 4
ER -
