Diode-pumped microchip lasers electro-optically Q switched at high pulse repetition rates

We have obtained asymptotically equal to50 mW of time-averaged 1.064-microm output power from a diode-pumped, electro-optically Q-switched Nd:YAG microchip laser at pulse repetition rates between 5 and 500 kHz. The FWHM of the output pulses is proportional to the repetition rate, varying from <300 ps at low repetition rates to 13.3 ns at 500 kHz. The multikilowatt peak power obtained at low repetition rates allows for efficient nonlinear frequency conversion and is sufficient to ablate thin layers of metal.