Diode-pumped passively Q-switched Nd:LuVO_4 laser at 1.34μm with a V^3+:YAG saturable absorber

Abstract

We report a diode-pumped passively Q-switched Nd:LuVO4 laserat 1.34 microm using V3+:YAG as saturable absorber. The characteristics of a-cut and c-cut Nd:LuVO4 passive Q-switching operation were studied. The average output power of 1.02 W was obtained under the pump power of 12.88 W, corresponding to the optical conversion efficiency of 8% and slope efficiency of 10% in c-cut Nd:LuVO4 laser. The maximum pulse energy of 17.6 microJ and the highest peak power of 820 W were obtained at pulse width of 21 ns and pulse repetition rate of 22.4 kHz in a-cut Nd:LuVO4 laser.