Passively Q-switched quasi-continuously pumped 2.4% Nd:YAG laser in a bounce geometry

We report on quasi-continuously pumped laser based on highly 2.4 at.% doped crystalline Nd:YAG in a bounce geometry passively Q-switched by a Cr:YAG and V:YAG saturable absorber respectively. The optimization of laser parameters and successive pulse amplification in the second Nd:YAG crystal led to efficient linearly polarized operation. At 1.06 μm the oscillator 5 ns long output pulse with energy of 1.3 mJ was further amplified to 3.5 mJ. At 1.3 μm the 13 ns long output pulse with energy of 600 μJ was amplified to 800 μJ in single pass.