Abstract

Nowadays, there is an effort to generate short laser pulses in the spectral range 2.7 - 2.94 µm since this laser radiation is strongly absorbed in the water and it can be used in medicine (surgery, ophthalmology, urology) [1,2]. Laser radiation in this spectral range can be generated using erbium-doped active media and its laser transition ⁴I_11/2 → ⁴I_13/2. Short pulses can be generated by several methods. An active electro-optical approach allows precise timing with high repetition rates up to tens of kHz, which is main benefit of this type of Q-switching in comparison with, for example, SESAM [3]. The uniaxial Er:YLF crystal can generate a naturally polarized laser radiation, which is benefit for using polarization-dependent Pockels cell with LiNbO₃ crystal [1,2]. In this work, to the best of our knowledge, the diode-pumped electro-optically Q-switched Er:YLF laser with repetition rate reaching 10 kHz is presented for the first time.

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