Diode-pumped passively Q-switched Nd:LuVO4 laser at 1.34 μm with a V3+:YAG saturable absorber

b We report a diode-pumped passively Q-switched Nd:LuVO(4) laser at 1.34 mu m using V(3+):YAG as saturable absorber. The characteristics of a-cut and c-cut Nd: LuVO(4) passive Q-switching operation were studied. The average output power of 1.02W was obtained under the pump power of 12.88W, corresponding to the optical conversion efficiency of 8% and slope efficiency of 10% in c- cut Nd: LuVO(4) laser. The maximum pulse energy of 17.6 mu J and the highest peak power of 820W were obtained at pulse width of 21ns and pulse repetition rate of 22.4kHz in a-cut Nd:LuVO(4) laser. (c) 2008 Optical Society of America.