Regenerative pulse amplification in the 10-kHz range

Abstract

A continuously pumped Nd:YLF regenerative amplifier has been developed that can amplify 40-psec pulses at a repetition rate of greater than 10 kHz, with an average power in excess of 5 W. Pulse energies are as high as 2.0 mJ at 3 kHz and 640 microJ at 10.5 kHz. The limitation on the amplifier repetition rate that is associated with piezoelectric ringing in LiNbO(3) electro-optics has been overcome by using short-pulsed electric fields (10 nsec) and proper acoustic damping. Regenerative pulse amplification, limited in repetition only by the pump rate of the gain medium, has been achieved. The high repetition rate in regenerative pulse amplification made possible by this development should prove important for signal-processing considerations in a wide variety of pulse-amplification applications.