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The Photonics Quiz

Test yourself by solving a set of questions concerning laser technology, optical fibers, and nonlinear optics! The following questions are mostly solvable by using the RP Photonics Encyclopedia. Note that in some cases more than one answer is correct.

Question 5

Does a saturable absorber as used for passive Q switching of a laser necessarily lead to a substantially reduced power efficiency?

(a) No, it doesn't. If its saturation energy is very low, not much energy is required to saturate the absorber.

(b) No, it doesn't, if one photon can saturate several absorber ions.

(c) Yes, the principle of using saturable absorption unavoidably degrades the efficiency, since the absorption must be similarly strong as the initial laser gain.

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