High-power actively Q-switched single-mode 1342 nm Nd:YVO4 ring laser, injection-locked by a cw single-frequency microchip laser.

Abstract

In this paper we report on the realization of a single-mode Q-switched Nd:YVO4 ring laser at 1342 nm. Unidirectional and single-mode operation of the ring laser is achieved by injection-locking with a continuous wave Nd:YVO4 microchip laser, emitting a single-frequency power of up to 40 mW. The ring laser provides a single-mode power of 13.9 W at 10 kHz pulse repetition frequency with a pulse duration of 18.2 ns and an excellent beam quality (M2 < 1.05). By frequency doubling of the fundamental 1342 nm laser, a power of 8.7 W at 671 nm with a pulse duration of 14.8 ns and a beam propagation factor of M2 < 1.1 is obtained. The 671 nm radiation features a long-term spectral width of 75 MHz.