Abstract

Diode-pumped solid-state micro lasers are compact (centimetre-scale), highly stable, and efficient. Previously, we reported Q-switched lasers incorporating rare-earth substituted iron garnet (RIG) film. Here, the first demonstration of the magnetooptical (MO) Q-switch in an Nd:YAG laser cavity is performed. We fabricate a quasi-continuous-wave (QCW) diode-pumped Nd:YAG laser cavity, which is shortened to 10 mm in length and which contains an RIG film and a pair of small coils. This cavity yields a 1,064.58-nm-wavelength pulse with 25-ns duration and 1.1-kW peak power at a 1-kHz repetition ratio. Further, the polarisation state is random, due to the isotropic crystal structure of Nd:YAG and the fact that the MO Q-switch incorporating the RIG film does not require the presence of polarisers in the cavity. This is also the first report of an MO Q-switch producing random polarisation.

Details

Title
Randomly polarised beam produced by magnetooptically Q-switched laser
Author
Morimoto, Ryohei 1 ; Goto, Taichi 2   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Taira, Takunori 3 ; Pritchard, John 4 ; Mani Mina 4 ; Takagi, Hiroyuki 1 ; Nakamura, Yuichi 1 ; Pang Boey Lim 1 ; Uchida, Hironaga 1 ; Inoue, Mitsuteru 1 

1  Department of Electrical and Electronic Information Engineering, Toyohashi University of Technology, 1-1 Hibari-Ga-Oka, Tempaku, Toyohashi, Aichi, Japan 
2  Department of Electrical and Electronic Information Engineering, Toyohashi University of Technology, 1-1 Hibari-Ga-Oka, Tempaku, Toyohashi, Aichi, Japan; JST, PRESTO, 4-1-8 Honcho, Kawaguchi, Saitama, Japan 
3  Institute for Molecular Science, Laser Research Centre, 38 Nishigonaka, Myodaiji, Okazaki, Aichi, Japan 
4  Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa, USA 
Pages
1-6
Publication year
2017
Publication date
Nov 2017
Publisher
Nature Publishing Group
e-ISSN
20452322
Source type
Scholarly Journal
Language of publication
English
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-15826-3
ProQuest document ID
1963432311
Copyright
© 2017. This work is published under http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (the “License”). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.