Diode-Pumped Passive Q-Switched 946-nm Nd:YAG Laser with 2.1-W Average Output Power

We demonstrate a diode-pumped passive Q-switched 946nm Nd:YAG laser with a diffusion-bonded composite laser rod and a co-doped Nd,Cr:YAG as saturable absorber. The average output power of 2.1W is generated at an incident pump power of 14.3W. The peak power of the Q-switched pulse is 643W with 80kHz repetition rate and 40.8ns pulse width. The slope efficiency and optical conversion efficiency are 17.6% and 14.7%, respectively.