Diode-pumped simultaneously Q-switched and mode-locked YVO4/Nd:YVO4/YVO4 crystal self-Raman first-Stokes laser

A diode-end-pumped simultaneously Q-switched and modelocked self-Raman YVO(4)/Nd:YVO(4)/YVO(4) laser at first-Stokes wavelength of 1175.9 nm was demonstrated. The shortest mode-locked pulse width of the laser was obtained to be ~23.57 ps, with the corresponding timebandwidth product of ~0.51. The maximum average output power, the highest pulse energy and the highest peak power were obtained to be 1.83 W, 6.1 μJ and 220 kW, respectively. The nonlinear Raman process improved the Q-switched mode-locking performance of the Stokes pulses.