Laser switching by a PLZT shutter

The application of a polycrystalline ferroelectric ceramic Pb1-xLax(ZryTiz)1-(x/4)O3(called PLZT) electrooptic shutter is described for controlling the giant pulse emission of a ruby laser. The PLZT material had percent, percent, and the value of was in the vicinity of 8 percent. Half-wave retardation switching was not possible with the PLZT shutter when 10-ns rise-time 70-ns-duration voltage pulses (fast switching) were applied. The increase insertion loss, due to less than half-wave retardation, resulted in laser pulsewidths that were wider and contained less energy than predicted by fast -switching theory. Since the PLZT material was damaged at relatively low power densities of between 5.6 to 8.5 MW/cm², respectively, its use is restricted to -switching small output power.