A typical behavior of Cr:YAG passively switched Nd:YVO/sub 4/ microlasers at high-pumping rates

Summary form only given. Passively Q-switched microlasers are an elegant means to generate sub-nanosecond duration pulses with moderate energies. Earlier work on these devices has emphasized that the following criterion must be met to ensure Q-switching: /spl sigma//sub gs///spl gamma//spl sigma//spl times/A/sub s//A/sub g/>1, where, /spl sigma//sub gs/, is the saturable absorber ground-state absorption cross section, /spl sigma/ is the gain medium emission cross section, /spl gamma/ is the gain medium degeneracy factor, and A/sub g/ and A/sub s/ are the laser beam areas in the gain medium and saturable absorber, respectively. We assembled and characterized a CW pumped Nd:YVO/sub 4//Cr:YAG microlaser.