1064 nm Nd: YVO4 laser intracavity pumped at 912 nm and sum-frequency mixing for an emission at 491 nm

We present for the first time a Nd:YVO4 laser emitting at 1064 nm intracavity pumped at 912 nm by a Nd: GdVO4 laser. We carried out a model to design the system properly, and laser performance was experimentally investigated. Intracavity sum-frequency mixing at 912 and 1064 nm was then realized in a BiBO crystal to reach the blue range. We obtained a cw output power of 155 mW at 491 nm with a pump laser diode emitting 20 W at 808 nm. Q 2008 Optical Society of America.