Efficient Nd:YVO4 laser in-band pumped by wavelength-locked 913.9-nm laser diode and Q-switch operation**Project supported by Tianjin City High School Science & Technology Fund Planning Project (Grant No. 20140703).

Abstract

An efficient 1064-nm Nd:YVO4 laser in-band pumped by a wavelength-locked laser diode (LD) at 913.9 nm was demonstrated. The maximum continuous wave (CW) output power of 23.4 W at 1064 nm was realized with the incident pump power of 40 W, corresponding to a total optical-to-optical efficiency of 58.5%. This is to the best of our knowledge the highest total optical-to-optical efficiency and output power of Nd:YVO4 laser in-band pumped by a 913.9-nm laser diode. The Q-switched operation of this laser was also investigated. Through a contrast experiment of pumping at 808 nm, the experimental results showed that an Nd:YVO4 laser in-band pumped by a wavelength-locked LD at 913.9 nm had excellent pulse stability and beam quality for high repetition rate Q-switching operation.