Epitaxially grown 1.06 /spl mu/m and eye safe microchip lasers

Most of works on passively Q-switched microchip lasers emitting at 1064 nm have been done with neodymium-doped YAG crystals as gain material and Cr/sup 4+/:YAG as saturable absorber. The bulk Cr/sup 4+/:GGG Czochralski grown passive Q-switches were also investigated. We have used a technique of liquid phase epitaxy (LPE) to grow Cr/sup 4+/:YAG, Cr/sup 4+/:GGG and Co/sup 2+/:YAG thin films of saturable absorber. X-ray diffraction analysis, optical transmission spectra measurements and passive Q-switching experiments were performed to characterize the obtained layers. Absorption saturation measurements of Cr/sup 4+/:YAG, Cr/sup 4+/:GGG and Co/sup 2+/:YAG layers were carried out at 1.06 /spl mu/m and 1.54 /spl mu/m, respectively.