Undamped resonance spiking by internal modulation of pulsed solid state lasers

Abstract

Cavity loss modulation is investigated in the low-frequency range of pulsed Nd-lasers. The response of the system shows a typical resonant behaviour, whose resonance frequency is equal to the frequency of the relaxation oscillations. The resonance step-up is in the order of 10 3, which means that an extremely small driving voltage at the electrooptic cell results in very regular, undamped spikes. Experiments are performed with a pulsed Nd: YAG laser. Pulse power, half-width, and distance are in the range required for controlled material removal in high quality laser material processing.