Ring-cavity-dumped single-frequency Nd:YVO₄ laser

A diode-pumped, all-solid-state, ring-cavity-dumped pulsed single-frequency Nd:YVO₄ laser based on electro-optic cavity-dumping technology is presented, providing an alternative structure to the front end of existing high-energy single-frequency laser systems. In continuous-wave (CW) single-frequency operation, a maximum output power of 3.5 W was obtained with a spectrum linewidth of ~9.96 MHz and beam quality M² factors of M_x² = 1.01 and M_y² = 1.02. In cavity-dumping operation, at a pulse repetition frequency (PRF) of 1 kHz, a 1064-nm pulsed laser was obtained with a single-pulse energy of 0.16 mJ and a pulse width of ~33 ns. The corresponding spectrum linewidth is ~26.9 MHz with a time-bandwidth product of 0.887, and beam quality M² factors are M_x² = 1.14 and M_y² = 1.24. The energy stability RMS is 1.3%. Furthermore, the single-pulse energy and pulse width were measured at different pulse repetition frequencies from 100 Hz to 1 kHz.