Dynamic effects in microchip lasers

Thin-slice solid-state lasers possess 5-6 orders of magnitude shorter photon lifetimes as compared with fluorescence lifetimes and large lifetime ratios give rise to significant dynamic effects, leading to novel phenomena and applications. This paper reviews recent results on three issues which are related to dynamic behaviors arising through short laser-cavity configurations inherent in laser-diode-pumped microchip solid-state lasers. The three issues are: (1) modal interference and high-speed modulation by asymmetric end-pumping, (2) self-induced instability in multimode lasers operating on λ-schemes and (3) real-time sound reproduction using self-mixing laser Doppler vibrometry.