High power diode-pumped 914-nm Nd:YVO₄ laser

A high power continuous-wave (CW) 914-nm Nd:YVO₄ laser at room temperature is presented. Using an end-pumped structure and employing an 808-nm diode-laser as the pump source, the maximum output power of 15.5 W of the 914-nm laser is achieved at the absorbed pump power of 40.2 W, with a corresponding average slope efficiency's = 65.6%. To the best of our knowledge, this is the highest output power of diode-pumped 914-nm laser. A beam quality factor M₂ = 2.8 at the output power of 15 W is measured by using the traveling knife-edge method.