Development of a high-energy, quasi-three-level Nd:YVO4 laser at 914 nm for deep-blue light generation

A deep-blue light source is useful for various vegetation studies because strong absorption features of chlorophyll a and b exist in this wavelength region. Second-harmonic generation of quasi-three-level Nd-doped lasers operating around 900 nm allows us to produce high-energy deep-blue light suitable for remote sensing of vegetation. Currently, we are developing a high-energy, Q-switched Nd:YVO4 laser operating at 914 nm. Preliminary experiments were performed in a four-level Nd:YAG laser operating at 1064 nm. An output energy of 42 mJ in a single Q-switched pulse with 11-ns pulse length was obtained for a incident pump energy of 653 mJ at 10 Hz.