Diode-pumped passive Q-switched and mode-locked 946 nm Nd:YAG laser with a Nd, Cr:YAG saturable absorber

We report for the first time a diode-pumped simultaneous Q-switched and mode-locked 946 nm Nd:YAG laser with a diffusion bonded composite laser rod and a co-doped Nd, Cr:YAG as saturable absorber. The influence of the different initial transmission (T0) of the saturable absorber on the Q-switched and mode-locked pulse was experimentally demonstrated. At an incident pump power of 16.5 W, the average output power of 600 mW with 42 kHz repetition rate and 570 ns pulse width of the Q-switched envelope was generated. Almost 100% modulation depth with 205 MHz repetition rate of the mode-locked pulse within the Q-switched envelope was achieved when the incident pump power was 15 W.