An 885-nm Direct Pumped Nd:CNGG 1061 nm Q-Switched Laser

The 885 nm direct pumping method, directly into the ⁴F_3/2 emitting level of Nd³⁺ ion, is used to a Nd:CNGG crystal to product passive Q-switched 1061 nm laser pulses, for the first time to the best of our knowledge. A maximum average output power of 1.16 W for 1061 nm Q-switched pulses and a repetition rate of 12.54 kHz are obtained. The pulse width is measured to be 24 ns and the peak power is 3.843 kW. A high-quality fundamental transverse mode can be observed owing to the reduction of the thermal effect for Nd:CNGG crystal by 885 nm direct pumping.