Multi-wavelength passively Q-switched c-cut Nd:YVO4 self-Raman laser with Cr4+:YAG saturable absorber

A multi-wavelength passively Q-switched self-Raman laser with a c-cut Nd:YVO4 both as laser and Raman medium is reported. With the increasing pump power, the multi-wavelength laser including the fundamental line at 1067.4 nm, 1st-Stokes at 1097.9 nm, 2nd-Stokes at 1130.1 nm, and 3rd-Stokes at 1163.6 nm is generated sequentially. At a pump power of 5.0 W, the maximum output power of the four discrete lines are 186.8 mW, 246.5 mW, 158.4 mW and 63.6 mW, with corresponding optical conversion efficiencies of 3.7%, 4.9%, 3.2% and 1.3% respectively. The total stimulated Raman scattering conversion efficiency is 9.4%. To our best knowledge, this is the first report of the 2nd-Stokes at 1130.1 nm and 3rd-Stokes at 1163.6 nm.