Diode-pumped passively mode-locked YVO4/Nd : YVO4 composite crystal laser with LT-In0.25Ga0.75As saturable absorber

A passively mode-locked all-solid-state YVO4/Nd:YVO4 composite crystal laser was realized with a low temperature (LT) In0.25Ga0.75As semiconductor saturable absorber mirror. The saturable absorber was used as nonlinear absorber and output coupler simultaneously. Both the Q-switch and continous-wave mode locking operation were experimentally realized. At a pump power of 4 W, the Q-switched mode locking changed to continuous wave mode locking. An average output power of 4.1 W with 5 ps pulse width was achieved at the pump power of 12 W, corresponding to an optical-optical conversion efficiency of 34.2%.