LD-pumped Nd:YVO₄ dual-wavelength operation and intracavity sum-frequency 491 nm laser

The oscillation condition for the simultaneous dual-wavelength operation and intracavity sum-frequency mixing in a diode-end-pumped Nd:YVO4 solid-state laser is analyzed. A CW laser at 491 nm is reported with an LD-pumped Nd:YVO4 crystal and a type I critical phase matching LBO as the laser crystal and the intracavity sum-frequency mixing crystal, respectively. By the simple linear resonator, TEM00 mode laser at 491 nm of 2.5 mW was obtained with 5.0 W injection pump power. The optical-to-optical conversion efficiency was 0.05%.