Millijoule intracavity OPO driven by a passively Q-switched Nd:YVO(4) laser with AlGaInAs quantum-well saturable absorber

Abstract

We originally demonstrate the use of an AlGaInAs periodic quantum-well absorber to achieve a quasi-continuous-wave (QCW) diode-pumped passively Q-switched Nd:YVO(4) laser with an intracavity optical parametric oscillator (OPO). With a diode-pumping energy of 35 mJ, the output pulse energy and the pulse width at 1573 nm are found to be 1.58 mJ and 26 ns, respectively. The pulse repetition rate can be up to 100 Hz with the overall OPO beam quality M(2) factor to be better than 1.5.