Continuous Wave (CW) and Passively Q-switched Performance of a Diode-pumped nd:Yag Ceramic laser at 1112 nm
P. Li, J-L. Guo, Y. Zheng, H-N. Zhang, X-H. Chen, Q-P. Wang and B-M. Ma
We report a continuous wave (CW) and passive Q-switching operation of a Nd:YAG ceramic laser at 1112 nm by using a concave-plane cavity, which has not been found in the previous literature but of great potential. A maximum output power of 1.36 W was obtained at the pumped power of 11.30 W, corresponding to an optical-to-optical efficiency of 12.0% and a slope efficiency of 15.1%. We inserted the Cr4+:YAG saturable absorber with initial transmission of 80.0% into the cavity and the maximum average output power of 713 mW was realized at the pumped power of 11.20 W, the minimum pulse width is 8 ns with the pulse repetition rate of 10.8 KHz, corresponding to the signal pulse energy and the maximum peak power of 66 μJ and 8.25 kW, respectively. These unique strengths of Nd:YAG ceramic laser at 1112 nm thereby open up new opportunities in light source to integrated optical processing.
Keywords: Nd:YAG laser, ceramic laser, diode-pumped, continuous wave (CW), Q-switched, optical-to-optical conversion efficiency