Multibillion shot high-influence exposure of Cr4+:YAG passive Q-switch

M. A. Stephen; Joseph Louis Dallas; Robert S. Afzal

doi:10.1117/12.307020

20 April 1998 Multibillion shot high-influence exposure of Cr⁴+:YAG passive Q-switch

M. A. Stephen, Joseph Louis Dallas, Robert S. Afzal

Proceedings Volume 3244, Laser-Induced Damage in Optical Materials: 1997; (1998) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.307020
Event: Laser-Induced Damage in Optical Materials: 1997, 1997, Boulder, CO, United States

Abstract

NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center is developing the Geoscience Laser Altimeter System (GLAS) employing a diode pumped, Q-switched, Nd:YAG laser operating at 40 Hz repetition rate. To meet the five-year mission lifetime goal, a single transmitter would accumulate over 6.3 billion shots. Cr⁴⁺:YAG is a promising candidate material for passively Q- switching the laser. Historically, the performance of saturable absorbers has degraded over long-duration usage. To measure the multi-billion shot performance of Cr⁴⁺:YAG, passively Q-switched GLAS-like oscillator was tested at an accelerated repetition rate of 500 Hz. The intracavity fluence was calculated to be approximately 2.5 J/cm². The laser was monitored autonomously for 165 days. There was no evidence of change in the material optical properties during the 7.2 billion shot test. All observed changes in laser operation could be attributed to pump laser diode aging. This is the first demonstration of multi-billion shot exposure testing of Cr⁴⁺:YAG in this pulse energy regime.

Citation Download Citation

M. A. Stephen, Joseph Louis Dallas, and Robert S. Afzal "Multibillion shot high-influence exposure of Cr⁴+:YAG passive Q-switch", Proc. SPIE 3244, Laser-Induced Damage in Optical Materials: 1997, (20 April 1998); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.307020

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