High-Efficiency High-Power Nd: YAG Laser under 885 nm Laser Diode Pumping

A high-efficiency high-power Nd:YAG laser under 885nm laser diode (LD) pumping is demonstrated. The laser crystal is carefully designed, and the overlapping between the pump modes and the laser modes is optimized. The maximum output power at 1064 nm is 87W under the absorbed pump power 127.7W, corresponding to a slope efficiency of 72.4% and an optical-optical efficiency of 68.1%. The optical-optical efficiency is 58.4% for the pump power emitted directly from the LD. To our best knowledge, this is the maximal optical-optical conversion efficiency obtained for the LD end-pumped Nd:YAG lasers so far. (fundamental areas of phenomenology (including applications))