CONTROLLING PULSE ENERGY OF AN OPTICALLY-PUMPED AMPLIFIER BY REPETITION RATE

摘要

The present invention provides a method for controlling pulse energy of an optically-pumped amplifier by repetition rate. For example, the present invention provides a method of material removal by optical-ablation with controlled pulse energy, and with an essentially fixed ablation spot size by utilizing an optical oscillator in the generation of a series of wavelength-swept-with-time pulses, amplifying the selected wavelength-swept-with-time pulses with a optically-pumped-amplifier, controllably varying pulse repetition rate to control pulse energy, and time-compressing the amplified pulse and illuminating a portion of an object (e.g., a body) with the time-compressed optical pulse. Preferably, the pulse energy is measured and used to control pulse energy density to a set point. Alternatively, the present invention can generate a series of wavelength-swept-with-time pulses at a fixed repetition rate and periodically select pulses from the oscillator generated series of wavelength-swept-with-time pulses.