Abstract

Neodymium doped Potassium-Gadolinium-Tungstate crystal KGd(WO₄)₂ or Nd:KGW is a rather new crystal whose structure allows high doping (3 to 8 at.%) without detrimental concentration quenching. In this way it can compete with Nd:YAG in terms of specific energy despite a poorer thermal conductivity. Only experiments at low repetition rate and low thermal charge were performed before and we present here results obtained at repetition rates up to 30 Hz and pump powers up to 1 kW in order to see the behaviour of this crystal under such conditions. We tested several Nd:KGW laser rods, the last one was furnished by Marenna Co. (Bremen, FRG) and the dimensions were 6.35 × 76 mm with a Nd³⁺ doping of 3% at. The end faces were flat/flat parallel and AR coated at 1.06 µm. The optical quality was very good.

© 1996 IEEE