High-power, high-repetition-rate actively Q-switched 916 nm laser and the frequency doubled pulsed 458 nm blue laser

• A pulsed 458 nm laser with kW peak output power is realized for the first time.
• A maximum peak power of 2.5 kW with a width of 25.4 ns at 916 nm is obtained.
• Remarkable improvement on pulsed 916 nm laser is achieved.
• Investigating the potential of Nd:LuVO4 in high-peak-power pulsed deep blue lasers.

A compact high-power, high-repetition-rate laser-diode end-pumped acousto-optical Q-switched Nd:LuVO4 916 nm laser is reported. At the incident pump power of 29.1 W, the maximum average output of 1.47 W at 100 kHz is obtained. To our best knowledge, it is the highest average output power in Q-switched lasers at 916 nm. A maximum peak power of 2.5 kW with a shortest pulsed width of 25.4 ns is achieved at 5 kHz. The peak power is an order of magnitude higher than the previous results ever reported in the pulsed 916 nm lasers. By extracavity frequency-doubling with a BiB3O6 (BiBO) crystal, a pulsed 458 nm laser with a maximum peak output power of quasi-kW-level at 5 kHz is realized for the first time.