Structure of picosecond pulses of a Q-switched and mode-locked diode-pumped Nd:YAG laser
Abstract
The pulse duration of a diode-pumped Nd:YAG laser, in which Q-switching with mode-locking (QML regime) is achieved using a spherical mirror and a travelling-wave acousto-optic modulator, is directly measured with a streak camera. It is found that the picosecond pulses can have a non-single-pulse structure, which is explained by excitation of several competing transverse modes in the Q-switching regime with a pulse repetition rate of 1 kHz. In the case of cw mode-locking (without Q-switching), a new (auto-QML) regime is observed, in which the pulse train repetition rate is determined by the frequency of the relaxation oscillations of the laser field while the train contains single picosecond pulses.
- Publication:
-
Quantum Electronics
- Pub Date:
- December 2015
- DOI:
- 10.1070/QE2015v045n12ABEH015818
- Bibcode:
- 2015QuEle..45.1117D