Title :
High temperature operation of passively Q-switched, Cr:YAG/Nd:YAG micro-laser for ignition of engines
Author :
Tsunekane, M. ; Taira, T.
Author_Institution :
Japan Sci. & Technol. Agency, Nagoya, Japan
Abstract :
This paper presents the fabrication of compact, high-brightness, passively Q-switched micro-lasers and end-pumped by fiber-coupled laser diodes. The micro-laser brightness is calculated as 0.3 PW/sr-cm2 and the focused optical power intensity is estimated as 5 TW/cm2 at the pulse energy of 2.7 mJ. The 600-ps short pulse width and high beam quality (M2=1.2) has the capability of reducing ignition energy and laser head size, comparable to that of a spark plug. These Cr:YAG/Nd:YAG micro-lasers are developed for the ignition of engines, especially for automobile engines. Finally, high temperature (>100degC) operation of the passively Q-switched micro-laser is tested and analyzed.
Keywords :
Q-switching; automobiles; brightness; chromium; engines; ignition; laser beam applications; laser beams; microchip lasers; neodymium; optical focusing; optical pumping; solid lasers; thermo-optical effects; Cr:YAG microlaser; Nd:YAG microlaser; YAG:Cr; YAG:Nd; automobile engines; beam quality; compact microlaser; fiber-coupled laser diodes; focused optical power intensity; high temperature operation; high-brightness microlaser; ignition energy reduction; laser head size reduction; laser ignition; microchip lasers; optical pumping; passive Q-switching; picosecond short pulses; spark plug; Brightness; Diode lasers; Engines; Ignition; Laser beams; Optical device fabrication; Optical pulses; Space vector pulse width modulation; Sparks; Temperature;
Conference_Titel :
Lasers and Electro-Optics 2009 and the European Quantum Electronics Conference. CLEO Europe - EQEC 2009. European Conference on
Conference_Location :
Munich
Print_ISBN :
978-1-4244-4079-5
Electronic_ISBN :
978-1-4244-4080-1
DOI :
10.1109/CLEOE-EQEC.2009.5192379
