Low-voltage electro-optic Q switching of 1.06-/spl mu/m microlasers by PLZT

Author

Wang, G.Y. ; Hua Jiang ; Jing Zhao ; Gronin-Golomb, M.

Author_Institution

NZ Appl. Technol., Woburn, MA, USA

fYear

1998

fDate

3-8 May 1998

Firstpage

485

Lastpage

486

Abstract

Summary form only given. Q switching utilizing saturable absorption does not require an external driver; however, the power output and repetition rate are not stable. Acousto-optic or electro-optic (EO) Q switching exhibits more stable performance but requires high rf power or kilovolt voltage due to the small modulation efficiency of KDP and LiNbO/sub 3/. In this paper, we present an innovative PLZT-based EO Q switch. Due to its large EO coefficient, a drive voltage of only 300 V to Q switch a 1.06-/spl mu/m Nd:YVO/sub 4/ laser was measured.

Keywords

Q-switching; electro-optical switches; ferroelectric ceramics; lanthanum compounds; lead compounds; microcavity lasers; neodymium; optical saturable absorption; solid lasers; 1.06 micron; 300 V; LV electro-optic Q switching; Nd:YVO/sub 4/ laser; PLZT; PLZT-based Q-switch; PbLaZrO3TiO3; YVO/sub 4/:Nd; ferroelectric ceramic; microlasers; saturable absorption; stable performance; Delay effects; Electrooptic effects; Mirrors; Optical pulses; Optical retarders; Polarization; Pump lasers; Space vector pulse width modulation; Switches; Voltage;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Lasers and Electro-Optics, 1998. CLEO 98. Technical Digest. Summaries of papers presented at the Conference on

Conference_Location

San Francisco, CA, USA

Print_ISBN

1-55752-339-0

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/CLEO.1998.676529

Filename

676529