Q-switch maintains more laser power
A
Gooch and Housego product story
Edited by the Engineeringtalk editorial team
Mar 27, 2006
A new Q-switch for high-gain high-power linearly polarised Nd:YAG and Nd:YVO4 lasers provides better than 95% single pass loss modulation, compared with around 85% from conventional types.
Q-switching is a method frequently used to obtain short laser pulses of enhanced power.
However, improvements in laser technology have lead to the situation where the maximum loss modulation provided by conventional Q switches is insufficient to hold off the laser output.
Until now, there was only one way to provide the loss modulation needed to successfully Q-switch these high-gain systems.
This was to fit two Q switches in series to provide sequential depletion of the zeroth order beam.
Orientation of these two devices is crucial since any rediffraction of the first order rays back into the zeroth order will significantly reduce the loss modulation.
Misalignment of the two Q-switches could even result in a lower loss modulation than a single Q-switch on its own.
Rediffraction is not the only drawback associated with using two Q-switches.
The relative phase of the acoustic modulation must also be considered if timing jitter is to be avoided.
The increase in cavity length associated with fitting two Q-switches will mean the pulsewidth will be increased.
Two Q switches will place four optical faces into the laser cavity leading to increased insertion loss and multiple reflections.
Each of the two Q-switches must be carefully aligned at the Bragg angle while simultaneously avoiding rediffraction losses and of course two Q switches will require extra plumbing for the water cooling system and RF drivers.
Understanding the challenges laser engineers face, Gooch and Housego has developed the VHE Q-switch.
Designed for use in high-gain, high-power, linearly polarised Nd:YAG and Nd:YVO4 lasers, the patent-pending design provides better than 95% single pass loss modulation, compared with around 85% from conventional designs.
This outstanding performance is achieved inside the industry-standard package which allows simple integration into existing cavity configurations.
The rediffraction problem has been solved by careful alignment of the acoustics within the structure.
At certain incidence angles, a laser beam will not be diffracted by an acoustic beam.
These angles are built into the VHE Q Switch which ensures that light cannot be diffracted back into the zeroth order.
This design greatly simplifies the alignment procedure and simultaneously achieves better than 95% loss modulation.
The VHE Q-switch uses a single RF driver so timing jitter from a phase mismatch between two Q-switches is eliminated.
The VHE Q-switch from Gooch and Housego has been designed to allow laser engineers to push the boundaries that little bit further.
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