Abstract
Power Scaling of a Q-switched laser designed for internal frequency conversion is demonstrated by combining two Nd:YVO4-gain-channels with a time-multiplexing scheme based on a single crystal photo elastic modulator (SCPEM). Both channels are coupled with a polarizer and share an output-coupler and acousto-optic modulator (AOM). In order to combine two channels by time multiplexing, the single crystal photo elastic modulator is used which switches between two channels, while the acousto-optic modulator conducts the Q-switching. This allows almost to double the average output power and repetition rate within a given laser resonator design.
Highlights
Frequency doubled or tripled solid state lasers based on Nd:YVO4 and Nd:YAG are very important for material processing in many areas of the micro-electronic and photovoltaic industry
Each resonator channel exhibits exactly the same dimensions and characteristics as the basic laser design. This means that the single pulse parameters remain the same, due to time multiplexing, the repetition rate of the laser pulses and the output power is doubled
There is no significant difference for the average power between the two channels, showing that their optical properties are nearly equal
Summary
Frequency doubled or tripled solid state lasers based on Nd:YVO4 and Nd:YAG are very important for material processing in many areas of the micro-electronic and photovoltaic industry. The second possibility is to use more gain mediums with corresponding pump modules [6] This approach requires significant prolongation of the resonator length that leads to a change in the pulse parameters, especially increasing pulse duration. Several dual channel configurations have already been proposed, mostly for measuring application, e.g. having a Pockels-cell or acousto-optics modulator (AOM) in each channel and a single gain medium in the common part of the resonator [10,11]. Several other configurations are based on one or two gain mediums, and AOMs were proposed for the generation of special tailored laser pulses for micro-processing [12]. A configuration for power and repetition rate scaling was proposed [13], based on a dual channel resonator and a single electro-optical modulator (EOM). Switching between the two channels is performed with a Single Crystal Photo-Elastic Modulator (SCPEM [14,15,16,17]) that is suitable for high frequency operation and requires just a few volts for driving
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