Dual-wavelength oscillation at 1064 and 1342 nm in a passively Q-switched Nd:YVO4 laser with V3+:YAG as saturable absorber

The efficient dual-wavelength oscillation at 1064 and 1342 nm in the passively Q-switched laser based on Nd:YVO4/V3+:YAG is successfully obtained, as demonstrated in this paper. A total average output power of 2.2 W is obtained with 1.3 W for 1064 nm and 0.9 W for 1342 nm under the incident pump power of 7.7 W, corresponding to a total optical-optical conversion efficiency of 28.2%. The pulse widths are 58 and 54 ns for 1064 and 1342 nm, respectively, with the repetition rate of 89 kHz. Moreover, a rate equation model considering the Gaussian spatial distributions of the intracavity photon density and the initial population-inversion density is presented to characterize the dual-wavelength passive Q-switching operation.