Stable laser-diode pumped microchip sub-nanosecond Cr,Yb:YAG self-Q-switched laser

Abstract

Near-diffraction-limited longitudinal multimode self-Q-switched microchip Cr,Yb:YAG laser is obtained by using of a laser diode as a pump source at room temperature without cooling Cr,Yb:YAG sample. The output Q-switched traces are very stable, and the slope efficiency is as high as 18.5%. Laser pulses with 23.5-μJ pulse energy and 440-ps pulse duration were achieved which results in over 53 kW peak power at repetition rate of 6.6 kHz. The effect of the absorbed pump power on the laser characteristics and laser spectrum are addressed in details. The number of the longitudinal laser modes increases with the absorbed pump power.