Efficient Q-switched Ho:GdVO₄ laser resonantly pumped at 1942 nm

An efficient 2 μm room-temperature Q-switched Ho:GdVO4 laser end-pumped by a 1942 nm Tm-fiber laser is demonstrated. To our knowledge, this is the first report of Q-switched performance of Ho:GdVO4 crystal. A maximum CW output power of 6.85 W under the absorbed pump power of 24.1 W was obtained with a slope efficiency of 39.5% at a temperature of 17°C. With the same absorbed pump power, a maximum output energy per pulse of about 0.9 mJ and minimum pulse width of 4.7 ns were obtained at the pulsed repetition frequency (PRF) of 5 kHz, corresponding to a peak power of approximately 187.2 kW.