High-power efficient tunable Nd: GdVO4 laser at 1083 nm

An efficient tunable diode-pumped Nd:GdVO4 laser at 1083 nm has been constructed by suppressing the higher gain transition near 1063 nm. With 12.5 W diode pump power, the free-running output power centered about 1083 nm was up to 3.4 W, corresponding to an optical-to-optical conversion efficiency of 30.1%. When a simple uncoated etalon was used as a wavelength-selective element, the output power at each helium transition was higher than 2.5 W. (c) 2005 Optical Society of America.