Patent ID: 7006540

Claim:
A pulse laser system, comprising: an optical cavity formed by a first reflector and a second reflector, the optical cavity being characterized by a round-trip time, wherein one or more of the first and second reflectors are movable along the length of the optical cavity so that the duration of the outputted laser pulse is a function of a position of the first and second reflectors; a lasing module disposed at least partly within the optical cavity, the lasing module comprising a first diode pumped head, a second diode pumped head, and a birefringence compensator disposed between the first and second diode pumped heads; and a fast optical valve disposed at least partly within the optical cavity, the fast optical valve being structured to block and to allow lasing within the optical cavity and being structured to output a laser pulse that has a pulse duration of approximately the round trip time of the optical cavity.