High efficiency laser operation of 2 at.% doped crystalline Nd:YAG in a bounce geometry

High efficiency and high power operation of highly-doped 2 at.% crystalline Nd:YAG is demonstrated in a diode-side pumped bounce amplifier configuration. A linearly-polarized output power of 46.1W is obtained with 101W diode pumping representing the highest power achieved to date, to our knowledge, in a highly doped crystalline Nd:YAG laser. In a system operating at 19.1W output power, the slope efficiency was as high as 60%. With quasi-continuous wave diode pumping 11mJ pulses at 100Hz repetition rate were achieved and passive Q-switching with Cr(4+):YAG produced pulses with 12ns duration.