Patent ID: 6546027
Filing Date: 2003-04-08
Classification: H01S

Abstract:
A laser defining a cavity, the cavity housing a proximal reflective surface, a distal reflective surface, a beam pathway therebetween, and, along the beam pathway, a solid-state laser medium, a source of pulsed energy for energizing the laser medium, means providing an energy output from the cavity, and a beam-limiting element, the laser comprising:a saturable absorber (SA) element along the beam pathway for Q-switching the laser, said SA element having an absorption recovery time which is longer than a desired duration of an output pulse, the desired duration being on an order of one or more picoseconds; and a passive negative feedback (PNF) element along the beam pathway; the laser sufficient to produce at least one output pulse having the desired duration and an energy of from about 100 &mgr;J to about 2 mJ.