Intracavity second-harmonic generation at 320 nm of an actively Q-switched Pr:LiYF4 laser.

We demonstrate pulse laser operation of a Pr:LiYF(4) laser pumped by InGaN laser diodes (444 nm) using an acousto-optic modulator. We obtained a maximum laser peak power of 167 W (4 µJ/pulse) with a pulse width of 24 ns at an 11 kHz repetition rate for a 63 nm wavelength. Employing an 8 mm long lithium triborate nonlinear crystal in the laser cavity, we obtained a maximum peak power of 55 W (2.7 µJ/pulse) at 320 nm, which corresponds to a conversion efficiency of 69% with respect to the fundamental laser energy. The UV laser pulse width was 36 ns.