Abstract

The generation oí kilovolt electrical signals by photoconductive switches (PCS) is a well established technique.¹ In addition to being compact, the advantages of the PCS over more conventional switches include faster speeds, lower jitter, and, in certain cases, higher repetition rates. PCSs have previously been employed in the activation of Pockels cells² for gating and for shaping laser pulses.³ However, PCSs have not been widely used for controlling intracavity Pockels cells. In this paper, we describe the use of a Pockels cell that is controlled by two PCSs and report on experiments that demonstrate the flexibility resulting from the use of more than one PCS. The switches used for this experiment were high voltage silicon junctions operating in the linear mode in a low impedance (few Ω) unmatched transmission line structure.

© 1993 Optical Society of America