Single-bar end-pumped picosecond quasi-CW Nd:YAG laser

Summary form only given. All-solid-state compact sources of stable, intense picosecond pulses were recently reported, employing nonlinear mirror (NLM) mode-locking. These devices may even become tunable by using parametric amplifiers, and are attractive for several scientific and practical applications, being significantly simpler than traditional oscillator-amplifier systems. We introduce an end-pumped diffraction-limited picosecond Nd:YAG laser at 1064 nm with a 5-times improved efficiency with respect to a previous side pumped design, allowed by the development of a cost effective pump geometry, and provide an extensive characterisation of the NLM operation.