Passively Q-switched Yb:Y(2)O(3 )ceramic laser with a GaAs output coupler

We report on the experimental studies of a diode-end-pumped passively Q-switched Yb:Y(2)O(3) ceramic laser with a GaAs wafer simultaneously as saturable absorber and output coupler. The Q-switched operation of the laser has an average output power of 0.51 W with a 17.7-W incident pump power. The Q-switched pulses with pulse energy of 7.7 microJ have been achieved. The minimum pulse width is measured to be about 50 ns with a repetition rate of 52.6 KHz. To our knowledge, this is the first demonstration on a passively Q-switched Yb:Y(2)O(3) ceramic laser.