Abstract
Recently, the development of miniature self-Q-switched solid-state lasers1,2 points to a new way of generating pulses using a simple short cavity. In a self-Q-switched laser, the function of the gain medium and saturable absorber are combined in to one. This eliminates the need of the external modulators and accompanied complexity in cavity structure. By using a 5-mm-long monolithic cavity containing a Nd:YAG laser crystal codoped with chromium as saturable absorbers, we have demonstrated the operation of monolithic self-Q-switched laser that generates laser pulses of several nanosecond duration. Using properly tailored cavity parameters for shorter pulse duration, it is possible to reduce the pulse duration by one order of magnitude. The presence of distributed saturable absorber in a monolithic cavity also produces pulses with high degree of spectral purity due to the self-induced loss grating.2
© 1995 Optical Society of America
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