Mid- and High-Power Passively Q-Switched Microchip Lasers

Abstract

Passively ß-switched Nd:YAG microchip lasers have been developed that produce up to 250 jjJ/pulse at 1.064 |im, with a pulse duration of 380 ps. The infrared output has been harmonically converted to 532, 355, and 266 nm with high efficiency.

Miniature, High-Power 355-nm Laser System

“…The input face is antireflection coated at the pump wavelength and highly reflecting at the oscillating wavelength, 1064 nm; the output face is 40% reflecting at 1064 nm. Similar passively Q-switched microchip lasers, without the Cr 3+ doping, have been reported elsewhere [3][4][5].…”

“…The first stage of the laser system is a passively Q-switched Nd:YAG microchip laser [1][2][3][4][5]. The microchip laser is pulse pumped with a fiber-coupled diode-laser array.…”

Palm-top size megawatt peak power ultraviolet microlaser

“…This can be effectively used for wavelength conversion, as reported earlier by Zayhowski et al 1,2 However, the peak power of the microchip lasers used was in the kilowatt range and so the wavelength conversion efficiency achieved was modest. We have been working on the development of very compact, giant-pulse (>1 MW peak power) Nd∶YAG∕Cr 4þ ∶YAG microchip lasers using quasi-continuous-wave (QCW) pumping for several applications.…”

Design and performance of a high-repetition-rate single-frequency Yb:YAG microlaser

“…This is because the first mode to reach threshold bleaches a standing wave pattern in the saturable absorber, making it difficult for other modes to reach threshold. We purposefully place the Q-switch near the center of the cavity to maximize this effect 24 . Since the lifetime of the upper level in Cr 4+ :YAG is ~3 µs, the standing-wave pattern in the Q-switch is erased before each subsequent shot, even at high repetition rates.…”