Abstract
Several laser applications require visible or near ultraviolet light, sometimes tuned, at average powers of the order of Watts or higher and in a high quality beam. Also repetition rates of tens of kHz are often a necessity for reasons of productivity. The required wavelengths can be generated using non-linear optical techniques such as OPO’s pumped by a Q-switched diode pumped solid state laser operating around 1 micron. Acousto-optically Q-switched lasers have high repetition rates and can have high average powers, but produce relatively long pulses (typically over 100 ns) [1]. The efficiency of the non-linear conversions will increase when the pulse length can be reduced to the order of tens of ns. This argument led us to the development of a diode pumped electro-optically Q-switched Nd:YVO4 laser, operating at 1064 nm, with a pulse length between 10 and 20 ns at repetition rates up to 20 kHz, output powers of over 10 Watt in a high quality, polarised output beam. The challenge in this development is the combination of these requirements in one device.
© 1998 IEEE
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