High Power Continuous-Wave and Acousto-Optic Q-Switched Nd:GdVO₄ Laser Operated at 912nm

We present a high power and efficient operation of the ⁴F_3/2 to⁴I_9/2 ransition in Nd:GdVO₄ at 912nm. In the cw mode, the maximum output power of 8.6W is achieved when the incident pump power is 40.3W, leading to a slope efficiency of 33.3% and an optical-optical efficiency of 21.3%. To the best of our knowledge, this is the highest cw laser power at 912,nm obtained with the conventional Nd:GdVO₄ crystal. Pulsed operation of 912nm laser has also been realized by inserting a small acousto-optic (A-O) Q-Switch inside the
resonator. As a result, the minimal pulse width of 20ns and the average laser power 1.43W at the repetition rate of 10kHz are obtained, corresponding to 7.1kW peak power. We believe that this is the highest laser peak power at 912nm. Furthermore, duration of 65ns has also been acquired when the repetition rate is 100kHz.