Electrooptically Q-switched mid-infrared Er:YAG laser for medical applications

An actively Q-switched Er: YAG laser generating pulses at 2.94 mum has been developed and investigated. For a single Er: YAG generator at 3 Hz repetition rate, pulses of 91.2 ns duration and 137 mJ energy have been obtained. It corresponds to pulse train with high-peak power of similar to 1.5 MW. For 10 Hz repetition rate 30 mJ of output energy in single pulse has been achieved. These results, according to our knowledge, are the best world-wide achievements. (C) 2004 Optical Society of America.