The effective focal lengths of thermal lens in diode-end-pumped continuous-wave Nd:YVO(4) lasers for the (4)F(3/2)-->(4)I(11/2) and (4)F(3/2)-->(4)I(13/2) transitions were determined. The experimental results revealed that the thermal lensing effect for the (4)F(3/2)-->(4)I(11/2) transition can be sufficiently improved by employing a single-end diffusion-bonded Nd:YVO(4) crystal replacing a conventional Nd:YVO(4) crystal. However, using a double-end diffusion-bonded Nd:YVO(4) crystal was a great improvement over a single-end diffusion-bonded Nd:YVO(4) crystal for the (4)F(3/2)-->(4)I(13/2) transition with stronger thermal lensing effect.

An efficient Q-switched dual-wavelength laser with self-frequency Raman conversion in composite Nd:YVO(4) and intracavity sum-frequency generation in BBO is reported. With an input pump power of 17.5 W, average power of 0.53 W at the first-Stokes 1176 nm and average power of 1.67 W at the sum-frequency mixed 559 nm are simultaneously generated at a pulse repetition rate of 100 kHz, corresponding to a total conversion efficiency of 12.5%.

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A diode-pumped actively Q-switched mixed Nd:Y(0.3)Gd(0.7)VO(4) laser with an intracavity KTP crystal is developed to produce cascade SRS emission up to the fourth order. With an incident pump power of 14 W and a repetition rate of 50 kHz, the average output powers at the first, second, third and fourth Stokes modes are approximately 0.05 W, 0.61 W, 0.25 W, and 0.11 W, respectively. The maximum peak power is greater than 2 kW.