Anomalous passive Q-switching induced by Cr⁴⁺:YAG: with pulse repetition rate approaching up to 1 MHz

Anomalous passive Q-switching behavior was demonstrated in an Yb:KLu(WO₄)₂ laser, with a Cr⁴⁺:YAG crystal plate acting as saturable absorber whose initial transmission amounted to 99.3%. In stable Q-switched operation realized under high output coupling of 80%, 1.83 W of average output power was produced at a pulse repetition rate of 0.97 MHz, far beyond the upper limit imposed by the recovery time of the saturable absorber. The largest pulse energy, shortest pulse duration, and highest peak power were, respectively, 1.89 µJ, 39 ns, and 48.5 W. The high-repetition-rate passive Q-switching performance shows a close similarity to some Yb-ion lasers passively Q-switched by 2D saturable absorbers. (paper)