Abstract

A miniature Ti:Sapphire laser system, producing 14-μJ, 780-nm pulses of 1-ns duration at 10-kHz repetition rate, was constructed and characterized. The system comprises a passively Q- switched microchip laser, an optical amplifier, a frequency-doubling crystal, and a miniature, gain-switched Ti:Sapphire laser. It is pumped with an average power of 17 W from two fibercoupled laser diode arrays and occupies a volume of <0.5 liters. The optical layout and a photograph of the system are shown in Figures 1 and 2.

© 2002 Optical Society of America