Single longitudinal mode operation in diode-end-pumped wedge Nd:YVO4 laser

Single longitudinal mode laser in a wedge Nd:YVO4 crystal with short absorption depth is reported. The influence of the wedge Nd:YVO4 crystal on single longitudinal mode operation is analyzed. Two types of Nd:YVO4 crystal with a wedge angle of 7° and 10° are utilized in a compact plane-concave resonator, respectively. By optimizing the cavity length, 518 mW and 343 mW of single-frequency output power at 1064 nm are obtained by pumping of 808 nm laser diode with an slope efficiency of 38.7% and 32.4% for 10° and 7° Nd:YVO4 crystal, respectively. For 2 at. % Nd:YVO4 laser, the experimental and theoretical multimode threshold with a wedge crystal are higher than the theoretical multimode threshold with traditional cube crystal. It has been demonstrated successfully larger wedge angle Nd:YVO4 can enhance the performance of the single mode laser.