Cavity Dump-PTM Nd:Laser.

Three major areas have been investigated with regard to obtaining high PRFhigh average power operation from a solid state YAGNd laser 1 application of high speed electro-optic modulation techniques to a high average power low gain laser device 2 temporal modulation format required to obtain stable and efficient pulsed operation at PRFs between the classically accepted PTM and Cavity Dump CD frequency limits 3 pulsed operation of DC Krypton arc lamp at 10 Hz 25 duty cycle and subsequent pulse burst lasing at high PRFs. Employment of a dual crystal Pockels cell, fast switching modulator electronics with a variable duty cycle, and a hybrid resonator configuration has resulted in the attainment of stable Q-switched pulse trains over the PRF range of 0.1 to 1 MHz. During pulsed operation, overall efficiency was 85 of the CW maximum value, pulsewidth was 40 nanoseconds, pulse amplitude stability better than or - 10, and average power levels exceeding 10 watts were obtained. Over the 0.1 to 1 MHz range, average output power and pulsewidth were found to be independent of PRF. Author