Diode-pumped Q-switched 946 nm Nd:YAG ceramic laser

Abstract

A diode-pumped Q-switched ceramic Nd:YAG laser operating at 946 nm has been demonstrated in our experiment for the first time. When using a fiber-coupled laser diode with a fiber diameter of 600 μm as the pump source, an average output power of 2.64 W at a repetition rate of 50 kHz was obtained when the incident pump power was 17.39 W. When the fiber diameter was 400 μm, with an incident pump power of 11.56 W, an average output power of 1.79 W was achieved at a repetition rate of 50 kHz, corresponding to an optical conversion efficiency of 15.5%. The maximum pulse energy of 120.89 μJ and the minimum pulse width of 56 ns were obtained at a repetition rate of 10 kHz. The laser results of the Q-switched ceramic laser material was comparable to the best values obtained in 946 nm Q-switched crystal Nd:YAG lasers.