Novel CW and actively Q-switched 1066 nm Nd:GdYNbO4 laser under direct pumping

A diode-pumped acousto-optically (AO) Q-switched 1066 laser with a novel Nd:Gd0.69Y0.3NbO4 crystal under 879 nm pumping was demonstrated for the first time. In CW operation, the maximum output power of 7.5 W was obtained with a slope efficiency of 37.6%. The different modulation repetition rates from 5 kHz to 30 kHz in the pulsed Nd:GdYNbO4 laser were investigated. At an absorbed pump power of 7.44 W and a repetition rate of 10 kHz, the pulse width and peak power were 17.8 ns and 6.75 kW, respectively. We also got the highest repetition rate 61.214 kHz of this new mixed crystal.