Proton implanted Nd:YAG channel waveguide lasers

We report the laser oscillation in channel waveguides fabricated by proton implantation in Nd:YAG crystals. The laser performance was obtained in a resonant cavity configuration without separate mirrors, i.e. the polished end faces of the waveguides acted as the mirrors of the cavity. Given the transversal cross section of the channel waveguides, the irradiance achieved was ~2.0 kW/cm
²
.