Hirofumi IMAI and Masahiro DAIMON

Electronics Research Laboratories, Nippon Steel Corporation, 5-10-1 Fuchinobe, Sagamihara, Kanagawa, 229 Japan

(Received October 25, 1994; Accepted April 13, 1995)

A new type of single-frequency solid state laser for achieving a highly stable second-harmonic generation in a simple configuration was developed using a quite thin laser medium. A 100-μm thick Nd:YVO₄ crystal with one side coated for high reflection in a 50-mm long cavity which serves as automatic gain discriminator was end-pumped by a laser diode. Single-frequency output powers of 100 mW and 17 mW were obtained for fundamental and second-harmonic waves respectively by 1-W excitation. No chaotic fluctuation was observed with the frequency-doubled output.

Key words : single-frequency, solid state laser, frequency-doubling, diode-pumping, Nd:YVO₄