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Nanosecond Lasers

Definition: lasers emitting optical pulses with nanosecond durations

German: Nanosekundenlaser

Categories: laser devices and laser physics, light pulses

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URL: https://www.rp-photonics.com/nanosecond_lasers.html

Optical pulses with pulse durations in the nanosecond regime are required for many applications, including laser material processing, distance measurements, and remote sensing. In most cases, they are generated with lasers, either by Q switching or by gain switching.

Q-switched lasers can deliver high pulse energies – for example, several millijoules from solid-state lasers with moderate sizes, and multiple joules from somewhat larger devices. Depending on design details, the emission may occur in a single longitudinal mode of the laser resonator, in this case leading to a very narrow linewidth.

Gain-switched lasers can also generate nanosecond pulses, but with much lower pulse energies. In the case of semiconductor lasers, the peak power is often limited to the order of 1 W. Gain-switched fiber-coupled semiconductor lasers are interesting seed sources for fiber amplifiers, and such MOPA devices are increasingly seen as a possible substitute for Q-switched lasers in many cases, at least for pulse energies not exceeding a few millijoules. One of the main advantages is the great flexibility of modifying both pulse repetition rate and pulse duration electronically, and keeping the pulse duration constant when the repetition rate is varied in large ranges. Also, such devices can be fabricated at lower cost.

Suppliers

The RP Photonics Buyer's Guide contains 96 suppliers for nanosecond lasers. Among them:

EKSPLA

Short pulse durations, a wide range of customization options and high stability are distinctive feature of EKSPLA nanosecond Q-switched lasers. Employing latest achievements in laser technologies, our team of dedicated engineers has designed a wide range of products tailored for specific applications: from compact, simple and robust EKSPLA nanosecond Q-switched DPSS NL230 series lasers for OEM manufacturers to high energy customized flash-lamp multijoule systems for research laboratories.

Second (532 nm), third (355 nm), fourth (266 nm) and fifth (213 nm) (where available) harmonic options combined with various accessories and customization possibilities make these lasers well suited for many OEM and laboratory applications like OPO, OPCPA, Ti:sapphire and dye laser pumping, spectroscopy, remote sensing and plasma research.

Bright Solutions

Bright Solutions offers various Q-switched lasers with nanosecond pulse durations:

Wedge: 266, 355, 532, 1064, 1570, 3100 nm (also multi-wavelength configurations), used e.g. for atmospheric LIDAR, monitoring, glass machining or lithography
Onda: compact monolithic nanosecond Q-switched lasers for 266, 355, 532 or 1064 nm, used e.g. for lens marking, plastic marking or intravolume glass marking
Sol: compact Q-switched lasers for 355, 532 or 1064 nm, up to 200 kHz, used e.g. for automotive fabrication, electronic machining, ID card writing and other industrial applications
Aero: high energy lasers with up to 200 mJ at 1064 nm, 100 mJ at 532 nm, multi-wavelength configurations, custom beam shaping, application e.g. in atmospheric LIDAR, LIBS or nonlinear spectroscopy
ONE DPSS – miniaturized Q-switched lasers with up to 200 μJ and down to 3 ns, e.g. for atmospheric LIDAR and laser marking on plastics

ALPHALAS

ALPHALAS offers actively and passively Q-switched DPSS lasers (IR, VIS & UV) with pulse widths < 1 ns, which are suitable for applications requiring high peak power and precise synchronization. Both types of lasers feature TEM₀₀ beam profile and compact design.

Microchip passively Q-switched lasers are mechanically extremely stable with very high pulse-to-pulse stability, pulse energies up to 1.5 mJ and > 2 MW peak power with pulse duration down to 500 ps.

The actively Q-switched lasers feature a timing jitter < 500 ps, optionally down to 300 ps. Repetition rates from single shot up to 100 kHz and average power up to 5 W are available.

Higher energy and power is possible using MOPA arrangement.

Applications: micromachining, marking & cutting (e.g. diamonds), nonlinear optics, supercontinuum generation, time-resolved fluorescence measurements, pollution monitoring, LIBS, ignition of explosives & combustion engines.

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