532 nm diode-pumped doubly Q-switched Nd:YVO4/KTP laser with electro-optic modulator and GaAs saturable absorber

• DOI: 10.1007/s00340-009-3683-9
• Publication Date: 2009-08-06T14:11:17Z
• Authors: T. Li; S. Zhao; Z. Zhuo; K. Yang; D. Li; G. Li
• Keywords: 0103 physical sciences; 01 natural sciences

A diode-pumped doubly Q-switched Nd:YVO4 laser operating at 532 nm with an electro-optic (EO) modulator and a GaAs saturable absorber is presented. This laser can generate more symmetric and shorter pulses compared with those modulated by a single EO Q-switcher. A symmetry factor is defined to describe the temporal symmetry of the pulse profile. At the pump power of 10 W, a 4.2-ns pulse with a symmetry factor of 1.053 and a peak power of 33.7 kW is obtained. A rate equation model has been developed in order to explain the experimental results, in which the influences of population-inversion density on laser character are taken into account, and it leads to a good agreement with the experimental data.