Diode-pumped passively Q-switched Nd:LuxY1-xVO4 laser at 1.34 μm with two V:YAG saturable absorbers

Laser performance with the mixed Nd:Lu0.15Y0.85VO4 crystal at 1.34 mu m wavelength has been demonstrated. The continuous wave (cw) operation was carried out in a simple plano-concave resonator with an optical conversion efficiency of 23% and a slop efficiency of 25%. At a pump power of 6.78 W. the Q-switched pulses with the largest average output power of 349 mW, the shortest pulse width of 30.6 ns, the largest repetition rate of 42.5 kHz, the highest peak power of 268 W and the largest pulse energy of 8.2 mu J were obtained, corresponding to the V:YAG with initial transmission of 89%. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.