Diode-Pumped Quasi-Three-Level Passively Q-Switched Nd:GGG Laser with a Codoped Nd,Cr:YAG Saturable Absorber

We demonstrate the first quasi-three-level passively Q-switched Nd:GGG laser at 937nm using a Nd,Cr:YAG crystal as the saturable absorber. The dependences of the average output power, the repetition rate and the pulse width on the incident pump power are obtained. A maximum average output power of 1.18W with repetition rate of 35kHz and pulse width of 45ns is achieved at an incident pump power of 18.3W. The corresponding optical-to-optical and slope efficiencies are 6% and 10%, respectively.