High Pulse Energy 1319 nm Q-Switched Nd: YAG Laser

We describe a high-peak-power macro/micro pulse 1319 nm laser operation, which is produced by the acousto-optic Q-switched Nd:YAG oscillator that is side-pumped with quasi-continuous-wave laser diode. Under remaining a fixed macro pulse repetition frequency of 400 Hz, the lasing characteristics for different micro pulse schemes are investigated. To realize 1319 nm single wavelength oscillation, a birefringence-plate is employed to suppress the adjacent 1338 nm line. Under 390 W of pump power with 200 mu s of pulse duration, an average Q-switched 1319 nm power is increased from 32.5 W to 51.5 W by increasing the repetition rate of micro pulse from 400 Hz to 1600 Hz, and the corresponding micro pulse width can be stretched from 124 ns to 154 ns. The calculated maximum peak power is 0.655 MW with a pulse energy of 81.2 mJ, which is the highest-result reported to date for Q-switched 1319 nm lasers.