HIGH-REPETITION-RATE ELECTRO-OPTIC CAVITY DUMPING

A method for obtaining very high electro‐optic switching rates is demonstrated and employed for cavity dumping of a synchronously pumped mode‐locked dye laser. The intracavity light switch consists of a Pockels cell and a thin‐film polarizer. A synchronous, field‐effect transistor‐switch based generator delivers, at 10 MHz repetition rate, 15‐ns pulses with an amplitude of 300 V required for operating the Pockels cell. High electrical efficiency is obtained by connecting the Pockels cell via a resonant line. Dispersion of the high‐voltage pulse shuttling on the line is minimized by using phase compensation networks at its ends. From the optical pulse circulating in the laser cavity at 80 MHz, an adjustable fraction is dumped out on every eighth round trip. Intermediate pulses are suppressed by about 1:100.