Linearly polarized intracavity passive Q-switched Yb-doped photonic crystal fibre laser

In this paper we report linearly polarized high average power passive Q-switched ytterbium-doped photonic crystal fibre laser with a Cr4+:YAG crystal as a saturable absorber. An average output power of 9.4 W with pulse duration of 64 ns and pulse repetition rate of 57.4 kHz with a slope efficiency of 52% was achieved. Measured polarization extinction ratio (PER) of the Q-switched laser output was 10.5 dB.