Reduction of timing jitter in a Q-Switched Nd:YAG laser by direct bleaching of a Cr4+:YAG saturable absorber.
A method for optical triggering of a Q-switched Nd:YAG laser by direct bleaching of a Cr:YAG saturable absorber is described. This method involves the bleaching of a thin sheet of the saturable absorber from a direction orthogonal to the lasing axis using a single laser diode bar, where the Cr:YAG transmission increased from a non-bleached value of 47% to a bleached value of 63%. For steady state operation of a passively Q-switched laser (PRF=10 Hz), the pulse-to-pulse timing jitter showed approximately 12X reduction in standard deviation, from 241 nsec for free running operation to 20 nsec with optical triggering.
Cole
Brian
B
US Army RDECOM CERDEC, Night Vision and Electronic Sensors Directorate, Ft. Belvoir, VA 22060, USA. info@nvl.army.mil
Goldberg
Lew
L
Trussell
C Ward
CW
Hays
Alan
A
Schilling
Bradley W
BW
McIntosh
Chris
C