A singly-resonant intracavity optical parametric oscillator (OPO), pumped by a passively Q-switched Nd:YAG laser, is systematically investigated by means of a series of the output mirrors with various reflectivities for the fundamental wavelength at 1064 nm. Experimental results reveal that the output mirror with partial reflectivity instead of high reflection at 1064 nm not only is practicable...

We present a monolithic passively Q-switched microchip laser generating 200 ps pulses at a wavelength of 1064 nm with a repetition rate of up to 2 MHz. While maintaining transversal and longitudinal single-mode operation, the pulse energy can be changed from 130 nJ to 400 nJ by varying the pump conditions of the laser. To the best of our knowledge, the repetition rate of 2 MHz is by far the hig...

We report on a millijoule-level Yb-doped photonic crystal fiber (PCF) laser passively Q-switched with AlGaInAs quantum wells (QWs). Three types of AlGaInAs devices with different QW numbers are fabricated to investigate the performance. With 50 groups of three AlGaInAs QWs as a saturable absorber (SA), the PCF laser generates an average power of 7.1 W with a pulse repetition rate of 6.5 kHz at ...

A gain-switched laser transition, of a two-laser-transition cascade laser, that is driven by the adjacent laser transition which is Q-switched is demonstrated using a Ho3+-doped fluoride fiber laser. Q-switching the 5I6 → 5I7 transition at 3.002 µm produces stable gain-switched pulses from the 5I7 → 5I8 transition at 2.074 µm; however, Q-switching the 5I7 → 5I8 transition produced multiple gain...

Q-switched, single frequency lasers are essential for wide variety of applications such as high-resolution spectroscopy, LIDARs, optical communications and laser trapping or cooling. Such lasers operating at 1064 nm that are compact and provide high energy at high repetition rates are ideal seed sources for solid-state-bulk or fiber amplifiers. Following the demand of these applications, in the...