Synchronizable, injection-locked, <i>Q</i>-switched, mode-locked, and cavity-dumped ten-atmosphere CO2 laser

Abstract

A novel, active, mode-locking scheme for producing single, line-tunable, high-power ultrashort CO2-laser pulses is described. Using an auxiliary grating-tuned cw CO2 laser for injection locking on the 9R(16) line, the Q-switched, mode-locked, and cavity-dumped 10-atm CO2 laser produces single, detection-limited (&amp;lt;500 ps) pulses of 5-mJ energy at λ=9.29 μm. Details are given on the traveling-wave GaAs Pockels cells, both of which are controlled by a single, ultraviolet (UV) triggered spark gap. The time-locked output pulse is delayed by precisely 300.7 ns with &amp;lt;±50 ps jitter against the UV triggered spark gap, so the laser pulse is synchronizable to an external event to &amp;lt;±250 ps. To drive the transverse-electric (TE) 10-atm amplifier section, instead of the conventional Marx bank or inductance-capacitance (LC) generator, a new type of circuit is used. The automatically preionized, double-sided LC inversion circuit uses only one spark gap, and a detailed description with operating characteristics is provided.