Abstract
Present and future scientific, military and medical laser systems require electrooptic modulators and Q-switches which operate in the near IR. Rotary devices or LiNbO3 Pockels cells are currently used, for Q-switching at these wavelengths. System performance, however, is limited by these devices. Mechanical devices are slow, unreliable and subject to instabilities due to vibration while LiNbO3 suffers from poor insertion loss, low bulk damage threshold and acoustic ringing. KTP, with its unique combination of electrooptic properties, has been considered as a replacement for those intracavity devices. Unfortunately, its transparency extends only to about 4.3 µm and has significant phosphate absorption in the 3.3-3.6-µm range. Also, perhaps less generally known, KTP often has high electrical conductivity which cannot only produce non-uniform extinction due to space-charge effects but actually cause device failure through electrolytic decomposition.
© 1994 Optical Society of America
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