Laser Crystals and Components - Passive Q Switch Crystals

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Co:Spinel PASSIVE Q-SWITCH

Laser Materials

Cobalt-doped magnesium aluminate (Spinel) is a solid-state passive Q-Switch material working in the 1200nm - 1600nm range. Solid-State passive Q-Switches generating high power laser pulses are attractive because they allow for the development of compact low-cost laser sources without the need for a high voltage power supply. Erbium Glass lasers emitting in the 1.5μm are of great interest for being in eye safe wavelength region with applications include dermatology systems, laser surgery, range-finding, environmental sensing, telecommunications, and Lidar.
Passive Q-Switches are specified by initial transmission at the wavelength of interest.

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Cr⁴⁺:YAG PASSIVE Q-SWITCH

Laser Materials

C⁴⁺:YAG has become the solid-state passive Q-switch material of choice for 1 micron laser systems, offering several significant advantages over active acousto-optic and electro-optic devices, including:

• Eliminates the need for a high voltage power supply
• Reduce packaging size and weight
• Improved reliability and a longer lifetime in 1064 nm Nd:YAG lasers.
• Readily fabricated into high optical quality OEM components.

A small fraction of the chromium ions in YAG can be induced to change valence from the normal Cr³⁺ to Cr⁴⁺ with the addition of charge compensating impurities such as Mg²⁺ or Ca²⁺. The best measure of the Cr⁴⁺ concentration is the low power absorption coefficient alpha at 1064 nm. The typical values of alpha vary from 1-7 cm-1 for passive Q-switch applications. References 1)

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