Experimental and theoretical investigation on Q-switched Nd:LuLiF4 laser.

A diode-pumped continuous-wave (CW) and passively Q-switched Nd:LuLiF 4 laser was investigated. Under an incident pump power of 11.2 W, an output power of up to 1.92 W was generated, corresponding to a slope efficiency of 17.4%. By using a Cr4+:YAG wafer as saturable absorber, stable Q-switched pulse trains with an average output power of 1.13 W and a pulse duration of 13.8 ns were captured at a repetition rate of 32.5 kHz, delivering a pulse energy of 36.4 μJ. A rate equation model was further introduced to theoretically analyze the dynamical mechanism, in which the Gaussian spatial distribution theory was taken into account. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]