A 5.9-mJ 500-Hz Electro-Optic Q-Switched 1053 nm Nd:LiLuF₄ Laser

An efficient and high power 1053 nm electro-optic Q-switched Nd:LiLuF₄ laser, end-pumped by two fiber coupled laser diodes at wavelength 806 nm, is reported for the first time. With an incident pump power of 24.4 W, the maximum laser output power of 7.3 W is achieved in free-running mode, and the optical conversion efficiency is 29.8%. For the Q-switched operation, the shortest pulse width of 17 ns is obtained at the pulse repetition rate of 500 Hz, corresponding to the pulse energy of 5.9 mJ with the peak power of 0.35 MW.