Diode-pumped Alexandrite lasers in Q-switched and cavity-dumped Q-switched operation

We present the first study of Q-switched Alexandrite lasers under continuous-wave diode-pumping with operation up to 10 kHz repetition rates in TEM₀₀, with spatial quality M² 1.15. With a pulsed-diode dual-end-pumped design, pulse energy is scaled to a record level of 3 mJ. We also demonstrate, for the first time, cavity-dumped Q-switching of diode-pumped Alexandrite lasers under continuous-wave and pulsed diode-pumping, up to 10 kHz. Pulse energy of 510 μJ is demonstrated with 3 ns pulse duration and 170 kW peak power, in TEM₀₀ with M² < 1.2. Second harmonic generation of the cavity-dumped Q-switched pulses was used to generate UV wavelength 379 nm with conversion efficiency of 47%.