Scientific Reports (Nov 2017)

Randomly polarised beam produced by magnetooptically Q-switched laser

  • Ryohei Morimoto,
  • Taichi Goto,
  • Takunori Taira,
  • John Pritchard,
  • Mani Mina,
  • Hiroyuki Takagi,
  • Yuichi Nakamura,
  • Pang Boey Lim,
  • Hironaga Uchida,
  • Mitsuteru Inoue

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-15826-3
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 7, no. 1
pp. 1 – 6

Abstract

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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.