title: Nd:YAG single-crystal fiber as high peak power amplifier of pulses below one nanosecond.
abstract: We explore the potential of Nd:YAG single-crystal fibers for the amplification of passively Q-switched microlasers operating below 1 ns. Different regimes are tested in single or double pass configurations. For high gain and high power amplification this novel gain medium provided average powers up to 20 W at high repetition rate (over 40 kHz) for a pulse duration of 1 ns. As an energy amplifier, Nd:YAG single-crystal fiber delivered 2.7 mJ, 6 MW 450 ps pulses at 1 kHz. The extraction efficiencies vary from 8% to 32.7% following the configurations.
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire Charles Fabry de l'Institut d'Optique, CNRS, Université Paris-Sud, Palaiseau, France. i.martial@fibercryst.com
authors.forename: Igor
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Martial
authors.forename: François
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Balembois
authors.forename: Julien
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Didierjean
authors.forename: Patrick
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Georges