High-Power Dual-End-Pumped Actively Q-Switched Ho:YAG Ceramic Laser

We present a high-power Ho:YAG ceramic laser pumped at 1908 nm. Using a dual-end-pumped structure, the maximum continuous-wave output power of 48 W is obtained, corresponding to a slope efficiency of 70.4% with respect to the absorbed pump power. At actively Q-switched mode, the maximum average output power of 46 W and the minimum pulse width of 21 ns are achieved at a pulse repetition frequency of 20 kHz, corresponding to a peak power of approximately 109.5 kW. In addition, the beam-quality M² factor is found to be 1.4 at the maximum output power.