Efficient extracavity Nd:YAG/BaWO4 Raman laser

The output properties of an efficient extracavity BaWO4 Raman laser are investigated. An actively Q-switched Nd:YAG laser is used as the pumping source. The pulses have a pulse width of 11.7 ns and an energy up to 80 ml. The Raman laser cavity is a flat-flat one. Four output couplers with different reflectivities for the first and second Stokes wavelengths are used in the experiment. The relation between the output pulse energy and the pumping pulse energy are measured.With an incident pulse energy of 66.2 mJ, the corresponding conversion efficiency is 60.4%. When the pump pulse energy is 64.6 mJ, the obtained maximum pulse energy of the second Stocks is 22.8 mJ, the corresponding conversion efficiency is 35.3%. [GRAPHICS] Dependence of the first Stokes pulse conversion efficiency on the incident pump pulse energy for different output couplers