Patent ID: 7116687

Claim:
A laser apparatus comprising: a Neodymium-doped lasing material, wherein the lasing material includes a first-surface that is substantially transparent to a pump radiation and substantially reflective to a laser radiation generated by an interaction between the pump radiation and the Neodymium-doped lasing material, and a second surface that transmits at least a portion of the laser radiation; and wherein the laser radiation is characterized by a vacuum wavelength corresponding to an atomic transition from the 4 F 3/2 level to the 4 I 9/2 level of Neodymium in the lasing material; a passive Q-switch optically coupled to the second surface of the lasing material; wherein the lasing material and the Q-switch are configured to produce pulses of the laser radiation; wherein the lasing material is Nd:YVO 4 ; wherein the pulses are characterized by a pulse length of greater than zero and less than about 1.5 nanoseconds and a pulse repetition rate greater than about 100 kHz; and wherein the Neodymium concentration in the lasing material is greater than about 1% and less than about 3%.