Efficient high-peak-power diode-pumped actively Q-switched Nd:YAG/YVO4 intracavity Raman laser

Abstract

An undoped YVO4 crystal is employed to achieve efficient stimulated Raman scattering conversion in a diode-pumped actively Q-switched Nd:YAG laser. With an incident pump power of 16.2 W, an 1176 nm first Stokes average output power of 3.0 W was generated at a pulse repetition rate of 50 kHz, corresponding to an optical-to-optical conversion efficiency of 18.3%. Moreover, the maximum optical-to-optical conversion efficiency of 21.3% was found at 20 kHz. The maximum pulse energy is higher than 83 mu J at both 20 and 30 kHz. With an incident pump power of 7.6W, the underestimated peak power of 43.5 kW was demonstrated at 20 kHz with mode-locked modulation. (c) 2008 Optical Society of America