Timing-jitter reduced high-repetition-rate Q-switched Nd:YVO4/Cr4+:YAG micro laser with low pump power

Abstract

We report a high repetition rate Q-switched Nd:YVO4/Cr4+:YAG micro laser with small pump power. Unwanted defects in pulse train, which are inherently large in passively Q-switched laser, was simply minimized by controlling temperature of Nd:YVO4/Cr4+:YAG medium. When T (0) = 90% Cr4+:YAG and R (OC) = 90% output coupler were used, Q-switched Nd:YVO4/Cr4+:YAG micro laser showed the optimum output; maximum output power of 58 mW, optical-to-optical efficiency of 9.1%, repetition rate of 1.1 MHz, and pulse width of 57 ns were achieved with 640 mW pumping. MHz-order repetition rate in Nd:YVO4/Cr4+:YAG Q-switched laser with low pumping (< 1 W) is the highest value to the best of our knowledge.