Abstract: We addressed the output properties of adiodeendpumped Nd:YVO4/GaAs laser passively Qswitched with GaAs saturable absorber.The maximum output slope efficiencies of the continuous wave (CW)and Qswitching operation were 41.5% and 11.4%. We obtained the shortest pulse width of only 1.9 ns with a 700μm thick GaAs wafer as a satuable absorber and a plane mirror of T=6.5% as a output coupler (OC) of a 15 mm long laser cavity. Pulse repetition frequency acquired by T=6.5% and T=20% OCs respectively increased from 18.7 and 23.9 kHz to 53 and 41.3 kHz in the increasing process of absorbed pumping power from 0.5 to 5.6 W. The biggest pulse energy obtained through these two OCs was 8.5 and 13.3 μJ, whose peak powers were 4.45 and 4.6 kW. This Qswitched Nd:YVO4/GaAs laser had very high amplitude stability, whose Qswitched pulse amplitude fluctuation was less than 3% for high pump power.

Key words: LDendpumped, passively Qswitched, Nd:YVO4, pulsed laser