Passive Q-switching of a Nd:YAG laser
with a GaAs output coupler

Jianhui Gu, Feng Zhou, Siu Chung Tam, Wenjie Xie, and Yee Loy Lam
Nanyang Technological University, School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering,
Division of Microelectronics, Photonics
Laboratory, Nanyang Avenue, Singapore 639798

Yihong Chen
Gintic Institute of Manufacturing Technology,
71 Nanyang Drive, Singapore 638075

ABSTRACT

By using GaAs as an output coupler as well as a saturable absorber, passive Q-switching of an arc-lamp pumped Nd:YAG laser has been demonstrated. The shortest pulse duration obtained was 77.6 ns, corresponding to a pulse energy of 34 µJ. The laser average output power was 2.1 W with a power density in GaAs at 1.5×103 W cm–2. No optical damage to GaAs was observed without any active cooling.

Full paper in PDF

©1999 Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers.
Optical Engineering -- November 1999 -- Volume 38, Issue 11, pp. 1785-1788

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