ABSTRACT
Short pulses of high peak power are extremely useful for a number of applications. Q-switching is a technique for developing short pulses in pulsed lasers. In a Q-switched laser, timing of the switching operation is important and a numerical model is developed that describes the growth of inversion as a function of time. This model is generic and can be adapted to almost any Q-switched laser, including those with arbitrary pumping pulses. To produce a pulsed laser output, one can switch pump power to the amplifier in a scheme known as gain switching. Gain switching does produce a pulse, and oscillations in the output of a laser. Acousto-optic modulators (AOM) work by diffracting an incoming beam, which in turn induces a loss when the device is inserted into a laser cavity, which shows an actual AOM device in a laser cavity. A piezoelectric crystal driven by a radio-frequency source produces an acoustic wave in a crystal substrate.
