Nd:YVO4 Laser Offers 200 kHz

Daniel S. Burgess

Advanced Optical Technology Ltd. of Basildon, UK, has reported the development of a 200-kHz electro-optically Q-switched laser. Such high-repetition-rate devices may find use in industrial, medical and telecommunications applications. Sharing in the venture are Leysop Ltd., also of Basildon, and Raicol Crystals Ltd. of Yehud, Israel.

Researchers in the UK and Israel have developed an electro-optically Q-switched diode-pumped solid-state laser with repetition rates of 200 kHz. The technology has been introduced commercially in a 50-kHz product.

The Nd:YVO₄ lasers display low switching loss, with pulsed outputs at >100 kHz that are 95 percent of the power in continuous-wave mode. A 2-W diode serves as the pump source, and Advanced Optical Technology's proprietary Q-switches employ RbTiOPO₄ crystal grown by Raicol. The 1- to 5-ns-pulse lasers offer peak powers of approximately 20 kW at low repetition rates and 0.5 kW at 200 kHz.

The governments of the UK and Israel are funding the collaboration under the Britech initiative. The two-year project, which is developing new nonlinear and electro-optical materials for switching, modulating and deflecting purposes, is scheduled to end in the first half of the year.