Dense-plasma emission pumping of q-switched Ti:sapphire tube-laser

Summary form only given. Dense argon-plasma emission of a hypocycloidal pinch (HCP) device has been used to pump a Ti:sapphire tube laser./sup 1/ The pumping efficiency was enhanced by using both inner and outer spectrum converters./sup 2/ The HCP plasma had 1.5-eV temperature and 10/sup 24//m/sup 3/ density which produced a intense near-UV emission of 1.8-/spl mu/s risetime. The HCP pumped and Q-switched Ti:sapphire tube laser had 300 kW peak power which was almost 3 times as high as that of the normal oscillation at 820-nm wavelength. It was better than Segawa´s experimental result of 1.7 kW peak power, 2.4 times higher than that of normal laser, which was obtained by a conventional flashlamp pumping./sup 3/ The electro-optic Q-switch of HCP pumped-Ti:sapphire tube laser had a quarterwave configuration of which was made by the combination of a rear mirror, a Ti:sapphire tube, a polarizer, a pockels cell, and an output mirror. By this Q-switch, the laser cavity was suddenly opened after blocking for 5-/spl mu/s to accumulate energy in the Ti:sapphire laser medium, so that the peak power could be increased much higher than that of the normal laser. The Q-switched Ti:sapphire tube laser will be then frequency-doubled by focusing to almost 10 MW/cm/sup 2/ power density on a lithium triborate crystal. The most interesting applications of this laser are bathymetry and underwater communications for military and civilian uses.