Neodymium-glass laser with stepped Q-switching

The development and suppression of spurious modes in a neodymium-glass laser with stepped Q-switching are studied theoretically and experimentally. Balance equations for effective level populations were used, in which the terms accounting for variation in population inversion due to pumping and spontaneous emission are thrown out, since the rates of these processes are significantly slower than those under consideration. The case of two noninteracting modes is studied, and the results can be generalized for any number of modes. Conditions are derived for realizing single-frequency regime without loss of power.