Title :
Passive Q-switch materials for diode pumped Nd:YAG laser systems
Author :
Smillie, M.W. ; Silver, M. ; Lee, Steven
Author_Institution :
Thales Optronics, Glasgow, UK
Abstract :
We have built and tested a passively Q-switched, diode end-pumped, 1 μm Nd:YAG laser, for application to laser designation. The maximum single pulse energy achieved was 40 mJ, with a pulse width of 18 ns at a repetition rate of 2 Hz. This result opens the possibility for a laser target designator based on a passively Q-switched laser. This would allow significant improvements in compactness, lower complexity and cost compared to existing actively Q-switched solutions.
Keywords :
Q-switching; military equipment; neodymium; solid lasers; YAG:Nd; diode end-pumped Nd-YAG laser systems; laser designator; laser pulse energy; laser pulse repetition rate; laser pulse width; passive Q-switch materials; time 18 ns; wavelength 1 mum; Laser applications; Laser beams; Laser excitation; Measurement by laser beam; Pump lasers; Semiconductor lasers; Timing jitter; Laser; Neodymium; military equipment; solid laser;
Conference_Titel :
High Power Diode Lasers and Systems Conference (HPD), 2013
Conference_Location :
Coventry
Print_ISBN :
978-1-4799-2747-0
DOI :
10.1109/HPD.2013.6706601
