Thermal Lensing Measurement and Laser Performance of End-Pumped Lightly Doped Nd:GdVO₄ Crystal

The thermal lensing effect generated in an end-pumped lightly doped Nd:GdVO₄ crystal was found to be considerably weaker than that in Nd:YVO₄ having the same Nd³⁺ concentration. Consequently, the laser performance of Nd:GdVO₄ at high pump powers over 20 W was found to be superior to that of Nd:YVO₄. TEM₀₀ mode cw radiation of 14.3 W at 1.06μm was achieved with an optical conversion efficiency of 55%, and average slope efficiency of 62%.