Patent ID: 7391794
Filing Date: 2008-06-24
Classification: H01S

Abstract:
1. A method for operating a laser to be seeded having a resonant cavity, the resonant cavity of the laser to be seeded being characterized by a round-trip time, and having a gain medium and a Q-switch disposed within the resonant cavity of the laser to be seeded, the method comprising the steps of: a) producing a single seed pulse with a pulsed seed laser external to the resonant cavity of the laser to be seeded, wherein the pulse length of the seed pulse is shorter than the round-trip time of the resonant cavity of the laser to be seeded, wherein the pulsed seed laser is a pulse-selected mode-locked laser, a passively Q-switched laser (PQSL), an actively Q-switched laser, or a pulsed diode laser, and wherein the pulsed seed laser has a resonant cavity and at most one optical shutter disposed therein; b) opening the Q-switch of the laser to be seeded; c) injection seeding the resonant cavity of the laser to be seeded with only the single seed pulse to produce radiation; and d) non-linearly frequency converting the radiation produced by the gain medium as a result of injection seeding the resonant cavity of the laser to be seeded with the single seed pulse.