Thermal lens Q-switched 1064 nm Nd:YAG laser

We report a 1064 nm Nd:YAG solid-state laser Q-switched by the dynamic thermal lens effect. The feasibility of using the thermal lens effect to realize Q-switch was proved based on the theoretical analysis of the dynamic thermal lens effect and the simulation of the Q-switched rate equation. Further, a thermal lens Q-switched experimental device with an 808 nm pumped Nd:YAG laser was constructed. The output laser beams with a repetition rate of 100 Hz, pulse width of 15.02 ns, single pulse energy of 11.9 mJ, and working wavelength of 1064 nm were realized by thermal lens Q-switch under the pump power of 412 W and pump pulse width of 80μs. The beam quality factors of the output pulse in x and y directions were 2.63 and 2.94, respectively. The results demonstrate that using a thermal lens Q-switch can generate laser beams with high energy and short pulse widths.