Actively Q-switched Nd:YVO4 dual-wavelength stimulated Raman laser at 1178.9 nm and 1199.9 nm

A compact diode-end-pumped actively Q-switched Raman laser generating simultaneous dual-wavelength first Stokes Raman scattering at 1178.9 and 1199.9 nm using c-cut Nd:YVO4 and undoped YVO4 crystals in the cavity is reported for the first time to the author's knowledge. The output characteristics versus the incident pump power and the pulse repetition rates are investigated. With the incident pump power of similar to 19 W and pulse repetition rate of 20 kHz, a total average output power at 1178.9 and 1199.9 nm up to 0.765W with a pulse width of 36 ns is obtained from the concave-plane cavity, corresponding to an optical-to-optical conversion efficiency of similar to 4%. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.