Cavity-Dumped Laser
Cavity-dumped laser: round-trip pulse length 2L/c, peak and circulating power, average power and the highest possible dump rate.
Round-trip time = pulse length
10.01 ns
2L/c; one dump per round trip at most: 99.93 MHz
Peak power
0.9993 kW
E/τ_RT, equal to the circulating power before the dump
Average power
10.00 W
E × f
Duty cycle
1.001 %
τ_RT × f
A linear cavity of optical length L stores E = P_circ × 2L/c in the one-way circulating power P_circ. A fast switch (Pockels cell or acousto-optic dumper) that couples all of it out gives a pulse one round trip long, τ_RT = 2L/c, with peak power P_circ = E/τ_RT, whatever the gain medium. A partial dump scales E down; a mode-locked cavity dumps one mode-locked pulse instead.
Ideal cavity-dumped pulse
- Dumped pulse
Model and references
Textbook approximation. A standard approximation from the literature (for example paraxial, plane-wave or Gaussian-beam), valid within the range the page states. About the tiers
Ideal full dump with an instant switch: the energy stored in a linear cavity, P_circ × 2L/c, leaves as a flat pulse one round trip long. Partial dumps, the switch rise time and the build-up between dumps are not modelled; the page only flags dump rates at or above c/2L.
- Siegman A. E. (1986). Lasers, ch. 26 (Laser Q-Switching). University Science Books.
- Koechner W. (2006). Solid-State Laser Engineering, 6th ed., ch. 8. Springer. doi:10.1007/0-387-29338-8