Electro-optically cavity dumped 2 μm semiconductor disk laser emitting 3 ns pulses of 30 W peak power

A 2 mu m electro-optically cavity-dumped semiconductor disk laser (SDL) with a pulse full width at half maximum of 3 ns, a pulse peak power of 30 W, and repetition rates adjustable between 87 kHz and 1 MHz is reported. For ns-pulse cavity dumping the SDL was set up with a 35-cm long cavity into which an intra-cavity Brewster-angled polarizer prism and a Pockels cell for rotation of the linear polarization were inserted. By means of internal total reflection in the birefringent polarizer, pulses are coupled out of the cavity sideways. This variant of ns-pulse 2-mu m SDL is well suited for applications such as high-precision light detection and ranging or ns-pulse laser materials processing after further power amplification. (C) 2012 American Institute of Physics. [http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4757760]