1 kHz, 1.5 MW peak power pulse generation from an acousto-optically Q-switched Ho:GdVO4 oscillator

We demonstrated a high-peak-power acousto-optically Q-switched Ho:GdVO4 laser pumped by a linear polarized Tm:YAP solid laser. Adopting 0.5 at. % Ho:GdVO4 crystals as the gain medium, the maximum continuous-wave output power was 16.6 W at 2048.5 nm with the incident pump power of 97.3 W, corresponding to a slope efficiency of 51.5%. When the pulse repetition frequency was 1 kHz, the maximum pulse energy of 10.7 mJ with a pulse width of 6.9 ns was obtained, corresponding to a peak power of 1.5 MW. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first demonstration of a Q-switched Ho:GdVO4 laser with pulse energy exceeding 10 mJ, and the peak power reached a million-watt level.