High-power passively Q-switched Nd:YVO4 UV laser at 355 nm

Abstract

We report on an efficient high-power passively Q-switched UV laser at 355 nm. We take into account the second threshold criterion and the thermal-lensing effect to design and realize a compact reliable passively Q-switched Nd:YVO4 laser with Cr4+:YAG as a saturable absorber. At an incident pump power of 16.3W, the average output power at 1064 nm reaches 6.2 W with a pulse width of 7 ns and a pulse repetition rate of 56 kHz. Employing the developed passively Q-switched laser to perform the extra-cavity harmonic generations, the maximum average output powers at 532 nm and 355 nm are up to 2.2 W and 1.62 W, respectively.