High-repetition-rate megawatt millijoule pulses from a Nd:YVO(4) laser passively Q-switched by a semiconductor saturable absorber

Abstract

We exploit an AlGaInAs periodic quantum-well absorber with a large modulation strength to realize a multi-mJ passively Q-switched Nd:YVO(4) laser with a repetition rate up to 200 Hz. At a pump energy of 34 mJ, the output pulse energy and the peak power are found to be 3.5 mJ and 1.1 MW, respectively. The fluctuation of the output pulse energy is generally less than +/- 2%.