Stabilization of the repetition rate of passively Q-switched diode-pumped solid-state lasers

We present a simple technique to stabilize the period of the pulses emitted by passively Q-switched lasers. By slightly modulating the pump diode power, the repetition rate of a Nd3+:YAG laser passively Q switched by Cr4+:YAG is experimentally shown to reach a time stability of 10−6 over 106 pulses. Simulations using a rate-equation model are in close agreement with the experiments.