Diode-pumped passively Q-switched picosecond microchip lasers

Passively Q-switched 1.064-microm microchip lasers have been constructed from thin pieces of Nd(3+):YAG bonded to thin pieces of Cr(4+):YAG. When pumped with the unfocused 1.2-W output of a fiber-coupled diode, these devices produced 11-microJ pulses of 337-ps duration at a pulse repetition rate of 6 kHz in a single-frequency TEM(00) mode. The peak power of the lasers was in excess of 180 MW/cm(2).