Efficient wavelength-locked 878.6 nm diode-modulated-pumped Nd: YVO₄ self-Raman laser

An in-band pumped and diode-modulated-pumped Nd:YVO₄ self-Raman laser was demonstrated. Aiming at the problem of low output power and optical conversion efficiency caused by thermal effect in all-solid self-Raman laser, the in-band pump and diode-modulated pump schemes were both adopted to mitigate the thermal effects and increased the upper limit of the pump power, so as to improved the output power and optical conversion efficiency of the Nd:YVO₄ self-Raman laser greatly. With a diode-pump modulation frequency of 10 kHz and duty cycle of 40%, the maximum average power of 8.75 W Stokes wave output at 1176 nm was obtained under a diode pump power of 30 W at a pulse repetition frequency (PRF) of 100 kHz. The corresponding optical conversion efficiency was 28.6%. Compared with the experimental results under the continuous pumping mechanism with the same pump power, the average output power of Stokes wave was improved by 42%, with the optical conversion efficiency improved by 8.5%. The experimental results show that the combination of in-band pump and diode-modulated pump schemes can effectively mitigate the thermal effect and increase the upper limit of pump power, so as to improve the output power and optical conversion efficiency of the self-Raman laser.