Nanosecond pulse generation from actively Q-switched thulium-doped fiber laser using a high-speed optical switch

Abstract

We experimentally demonstrate the use of a high-speed, solid-state optical switch as an efficient Mid-IR Q-switch. The switch could be modulated upto 2.2 MHz and its rising and falling time were measured to be 160 ns and 140 ns, respectively. Using the optical switch, stable actively Q-switched pulses were readily generated from a thulium doped-fiber laser cavity. The minimum pulse width of the pulses was measured to be 160 ns at 100 kHz with the average output power of 0.5 mW.