Diode-laser-pumped high efficiency continuous-wave operation at 912 nm laser in Nd:GdVO₄crystal

Abstract

High efficiency operation on continuous-wave (cw) 912 nm laser at room temperature in Nd:GdVO4 crystal pumped by 808 nm diode-laser is reported in this letter. The maximum output power of 8.0 W was obtained at the incident un-polarized pump power of 47.0 W, giving the corresponding optical-to-optical conversion efficiency of 17.0% and the average slope efficiency of 22.9%. Further tests show that the lasing threshold is reduced and the efficiency is increased evidently when using the π-polarized 808 nm pump source. 4.8 W 912 nm laser was achieved at the polarized pump power of 21.8 W, optical-to-optical conversion efficiency is increased to 22.0% and average slope efficiency is up to 33.6%.