Unpolarized EO Q-switched laser

A novel laser design is given that uses a special polarizing device to generate unpolarized Q-switched laser energy with a conventional EO Pockels cell. The special polarizing device, which replaces the linear polarizer normally used in conventional Q-switched resonators, allows solid-state lasers to operate efficiently at high repetition rates. Other features of the design include the elimination of the beam nonuniformities that normally occur at high repetition rates, the elimination of the need to bias the Pockels cell, and the ability to produce, by a simple mirror realignment, a plane-polarized output with high efficiency.