Passively Q-switched Yb:YAG microchip laser using a semiconductor saturable absorber mirror

We present a simple and compact, diode-pumped, passively Q-switched, single-frequency Yb:YAG microchip laser. We obtained 1.1 µJ pulses with a pulse width of 530 ps, resulting in a peak power of 2.1 kW at a repetition rate of 12 kHz (Fig. 1). This is to our knowledge the first passively Q-switched Yb:YAG microchip laser.