High-peak-power passively Q-switched Nd : YAG laser at 946 nm

Abstract

We demonstrate a high-peak-power quasi-continuous-wave diode-pumped passive Q-switched Nd:YAG laser at 946 nm. We make a thorough comparison of the output performance between the saturable absorbers of InGaAs quantum wells (QWs) and a Cr4+:YAG crystal. Experimental results reveal that the saturable absorber of InGaAs QWs is superior to the Cr4+:YAG crystal because of the low nonsaturable losses and leads to a pulse energy of 330 mu J with a peak power greater than 11 kW.