200 kHz electro-optic switch for ultrafast laser systems

Dynamics of Continuously Pumped Solid-State Regenerative Amplifiers

“…Among known to date Pockels cell materials only the BBO crystal is suitable for high average power (due to low absorption) and for high repetition rates (thanks to relatively low acoustic ringing). However the transverse electro-optic effect, the only functional for this crystal, permits shortening the optical pass or aperture increasing only in limited extent until driving voltage becomes unacceptably high (Nickel et al, 2005). Thus, since the Kerr effect often restricts the capabilities of regenerative amplifiers it is important at least to select correctly the operation regime in order to minimize its impact.…”

“…Multiple passes are organized by placing the gain media in an optical resonator. The number of round trips is typically controlled by an electro-optic switch (Nickel et al, 2005) [occasionally with acousto-optic modulator (Norris, 1992)]. The optical switch also provides quality control of the optical cavity, suppressing lasing and reducing the time period when parasitic amplification of spontaneous emission takes place.…”

“…Presently, there is rising demand for high repetition rate ultrashort-pulse solid state lasers for material microprocessing (Meijera et al, 2002). On the other hand, a new generation of fast electro-optic switches became available such as Pockels cells based on β-barium borate along with improved high-voltage electronics (Nickel et al, 2005;Siebold et al, 2004). As a result, picosecond and femtosecond lasers with repetition rate of the order of 100's kHz have come onto the market (Raciukaitis et al, 2006).…”

High-repetition-rate picosecond pump laser based on an Yb:YAG disk amplifier for optical parametric amplification

“…After the first solid state regenerative amplifier in 1980 [38], regenerative amplifiers with repetition rates typically between a few kHz and several 100 kHz and pulse energies in the range of a few mJ and µJ respectively could be demonstrated [39][40][41][42].…”

A Planar Waveguide Nd:YAG Laser Using Active Q-Switching of a Hybrid Unstable Resonator

“…In this case, the issues to address are the choice of modulator type and material and the provision of a resonator configuration that allows the use of an unstable resonator configuration, to achieve a high average power and good beam quality. Recently, electrooptic modulators have been developed to operate at high pulse frequencies, based on b-barium-borate (BBO) or rubidium titanyl phosphate (RTP) materials and these have been used in 100-W-class solid state lasers or at 200 kHz in an ultrafast pulse application [10], [11]. Such modulators have a switching time (∼25 ns) and are usually necessary to generate the shortest pulse durations.…”