High average power electro-optic switch using KTP

摘要

High damage threshold, high thermal conductivity, and small thermo-optic coefficients make KTiOPO(sub 4) (KTP) an attractive material for use in a high average power Q-switch. However, electro-chromic damage and refractive index homogeneity have prevented the utilization of KTP in such a device in the past. This work shows that electro-chromic damage is effectively suppressed using capacitive coupling, and a KTP crystal can be Q-switched for 1.5 (times) 10(sup 9) shots without any detectable electro-chromic damage. In addition, KTP with the high uniformity and large aperture size needed for a KTP electro-optic Q-switch can be obtained from flux crystals grown at constant temperature. A thermally compensated, dual crystal KTP Q-switch, which successfully produced 50 mJ pulses with a pulse width of 8 ns (FWHM), has been constructed. In addition, in off-line testing the Q-switch showed less than 7% depolarization at an average power loading of 3.2 kW/cm(sup 2).