LD-pumped acousto-optical Q-switched burst-mode Nd:YAG laser

A high-repetition-rate, high-peak-power burst-mode laser for laser-based measurement applications is presented by using a master oscillator power amplifier structure. An laser diode arrays (LDA) side-pumped Nd:YAG acousto-optical (A-O) Q-switched laser serves as the master oscillator. Under pulsed pumping, pulse trains with 2-25 pulses are obtained when the repetition rate changes from 10 kHz to 100 kHz. The maximum pulse burst energy of 31.2 mJ is achieved in the A-O Q-switched pulse burst laser oscillator at 10 kHz. Two LDA side pumped Nd:YAG modules are employed in the amplification stage. After the amplification, the pulse burst energy at 10 kHz reaches ~170 mJ with a single pulse energy of 85.2 mJ and a pulse width of 14.5 ns, generating a peak power of 6.1 MW. At 100 kHz, the total burst energy reaches 220 mJ with a single pulse energy of 8.8 mJ in the pulse burst laser system.