Quasi-three-level Nd:YAG laser under diode pumping directly into the emitting level

We present theoretical and experimental investigations on ground-state direct pumping at 869 nm into the emitting level 4F3/2 of end-pumped quasi-three-level Nd:YAG lasers operating at 946 nm. We have demonstrated, what we believe is for the first time, a Nd:YAG laser at 946 nm directly pumped by diodes and obtained 1.6 W of output power.