Fabrication of “a-cut” laser element from in-house grown Nd doped GdVO4 crystals and demonstration of lasing

Nd doped GdVO4 crystals were grown by optical floating zone technique. The crystalline quality was checked by rocking curve. The Full width half maxima (FWHM) of (200) diffraction peak is ∼54 arc second. From the grown Nd (0.6 at.%) doped GdVO4 single crystals ‘a’-cut laser elements of dimension 4x4x6 mm3 were fabricated. To fabricate the elements the grown crystal was oriented using the Laue diffraction pattern recorded in the reflection geometry. Further, the anti-reflection coating on the laser element was done to reduce the losses inside the laser cavity. The testing of lasing for a-oriented element carried out using plane-plane resonator geometry with 808 nm pumping. CW laser emission at 1064 nm was demonstrated. The laser output power of 4.57 W at 1064 nm was achieved for 11.94 W of incident pump power with a slope efficiency of ∼49.7%.