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Single longitudinal mode selection of high power actively Q-switched lasers

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Abstract

A Pockels cell Q-switch has been operated in a manner analogous to a saturable absorber by initially keeping the cell partly open for the first 1000 or so double passes and then opening it completely at a pre-set resonator power. This then allows simple and reliable selection of a single longitudinal mode. A detailed discussion is given of the design considerations which lead to the correct choice of mode-selecting device. With three different devices, a TEM00 mode Nd:CaWO4 laser has produced 400 kW pulses in a single longitudinal mode with a shot-to-shot frequency stability of ∼ 0.01 cm−1.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Electronics, University of Southampton, UK

    D. C. Hanna, B. Luther-Davies & R. C. Smith

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  1. D. C. Hanna
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  2. B. Luther-Davies
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  3. R. C. Smith
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Hanna, D.C., Luther-Davies, B. & Smith, R.C. Single longitudinal mode selection of high power actively Q-switched lasers. Opto-electronics 4, 249–256 (1972). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02334395

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02334395

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