High-peak-power short-pulse laser using a Yb:YAG/Cr4+:YAG/YAG composite crystal

A high-peak-power and short-pulse passively Q-switched laser at 1029 nm was obtained by using a Yb:YAG/Cr4+:YAG/YAG composite crystal in a compact diode-end-pumped resonant cavity. With the saturable absorber of 85% initial transmission, the pulse peak power reaches up to 87 kW with a short pulse width of 3.14 ns at incident pump power of 7.2 W. Furthermore, the output performance and optical spectra were studied at different pump power and with different composite crystals, which reveal that both bonding nondoped YAG crystal and using low initial transmission can contribute to high-peak-power and short-pulse laser output.