title: Passive Q-switching characteristics of Yb3+:Gd3Ga5O12 crystal.
abstract: The passively Q-switched laser characteristics of a quasi-three level Yb3+:Gd3Ga5O12 (Yb3+:GGG) crystal with Cr4+:YAG saturable absorbers are studied experimentally and theoretically. The pulse parameters under different experimental conditions are measured. Some characteristics different from those of a four-level system are found. In the theoretical aspect, taking into account the spatial distributions of the pump light and intracavity laser mode, the rate equations describing the single Q-switched pulse characteristics of a quasi-three-level system are obtained. The obtained theoretical results are in fair agreement with the experimental results. Some topics such as the influence of the pumping power, the selection of the pump beam size, the optimal combination of output coupler reflectivity and saturable absorber initial transmission, the influence of the excited absorption of the saturable absorber, are discussed.
authors.forename: Xingyu
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Alain
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Brenier
authors.forename: Qingpu
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Zhengping
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.forename: Ping
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Shaojun
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Shuanghong
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ding
authors.forename: Shutao
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Li