Q-switching and pulse shaping with IR lasers

摘要

The mid-infrared pulsed Holmium lasers operating around $lambda $APEQ 2 $mu@m are gaining more and more significance for numerous medical applications especially due to the ability to transmit the IR laser energy via recently available fiber-optic delivery systems. This paper describes a rotating mirror Q-switched Cr:Tm:Ho:YAG-laser ($lambda $EQ 2.12 $mu@m) generating pulse durations in the $mu@s region. Pulse lengths up to 10 $mu@s have been achieved. This time domain is expected to offer several advantages for medical applications compared to the free running pulse length of around 300 $mu@s as well as to the 200 ns unstretched Q-switched pulse duration. Shock waves produced by laser induced plasmas have been investigated and analysed with these pulses and the fiber fragmentation resulting from the optical breakdown at high power densities was evaluated.