Diode-Pumped Passive Q-Switched 946nm Nd:YAG Laser with a GaAs Saturable Absorber

We report, for the first time to our knowledge, a diode-pumped passive Q-switched 946nm Nd:YAG laser by using a GaAs as saturable absorber. The maximum average output power is 1.24W at an incident pump power of 15W, corresponding to a slope efficiency of 10%. Laser pulses with pulse duration of 70ns and repetition rate of 330kHz are generated.