A typical behavior of Cr:YAG passively switched Nd:YVO/sub 4/ microlasers at high-pumping rates

Author

Jaspan, M.A. ; Welford, D. ; Xiao, G. ; Bass, M.

Author_Institution

Q-Peak Inc., Bedford, MA, USA

fYear

2000

fDate

7-12 May 2000

Firstpage

454

Abstract

Summary form only given. Passively Q-switched microlasers are an elegant means to generate sub-nanosecond duration pulses with moderate energies. Earlier work on these devices has emphasized that the following criterion must be met to ensure Q-switching: /spl sigma//sub gs///spl gamma//spl sigma//spl times/A/sub s//A/sub g/>1, where, /spl sigma//sub gs/, is the saturable absorber ground-state absorption cross section, /spl sigma/ is the gain medium emission cross section, /spl gamma/ is the gain medium degeneracy factor, and A/sub g/ and A/sub s/ are the laser beam areas in the gain medium and saturable absorber, respectively. We assembled and characterized a CW pumped Nd:YVO/sub 4//Cr:YAG microlaser.

Keywords

Q-switching; chromium; laser beams; microcavity lasers; neodymium; optical materials; optical pulse generation; optical pumping; optical saturable absorption; solid lasers; yttrium compounds; CW pumped microlaser; Cr:YAG; Nd:YVO/sub 4/ microlasers; Q-switching; YAG:Cr; YAl5O12:Cr; YVO/sub 4/:Nd; absorption cross section; degeneracy factor; emission cross section; gain medium; gain medium emission cross section; high-pumping rates; laser beam areas; moderate energies; passively Q-switched microlasers; saturable absorber; saturable absorber ground-state absorption cross section; sub-nanosecond duration pulses; Assembly; Electromagnetic wave absorption; Laser beams; Pulse generation; Pump lasers;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Lasers and Electro-Optics, 2000. (CLEO 2000). Conference on

Conference_Location

San Francisco, CA, USA

Print_ISBN

1-55752-634-6

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/CLEO.2000.907242

Filename

907242