Diode-pumped Passively Q-switched Nd:YVO4 Laser with Gold Nanocages (GNCs) as the Saturable Absorber (SA)
B.H. Liu, P. LI, X.H. Chen, L.L. Wang, J.X. Bai and Q.Y. Hu
We demonstrate herein a passively Q-switched continuous wave (CW) Nd:YVO4 laser at 1064 nm with gold nanocages (GNCs) as the saturable absorber (SA). The performance has been systematically investigated using two output couplers with transmittance of 4.0 and 10.8%. The shortest pulse width is 143 to 240 ns, the repetition rate is 440 to 467 kHz and the maximum average output power is 211 to 372 mW, depending on the transmittance of the output coupler.
Keywords: Nd:YVO4 laser, fiber coupled laser diode, gold nanocages (GNCs), saturable absorber (SA), solid-state laser, passively Q-switched