THE INVESTIGATION OF PASSIVE LASER Q-SWITCHING

The passive Q-switching concept is introduced as an application under the general heading of saturable nonlinear optical elements. The bulk of the laboratory investigation, reported in some detail, is concerned with two organic dye materials for use with ruby lasers: Victoria Blue B deposited on a glass substrate and Cryptocyanine used as a solution contained in a suitable cell. The liquid component operates on a nondestructive radiative process that allows repetitive unattended giant pulse. The liquid, however, may be somewhat slower in switching speed than the Victoria Blue B films that are permanently bleached by thermal dissociation at the onset of each giant pulse. For the particular laser system used in this work, both types of passive switching produced giant pulses of peak power essentially equivalent to pulses that can be obtained by electromechanical Q-switching techniques. (Author)