Broadband ultrafast saturable absorber based on thin and dense alkaline molecular vapors

Abstract

A Saturable Absorber based on thin and dense Cs2 + Rb2 + K2 molecular vapor mixture has been investigated. It is revealed that relaxation time of photobleaching effect in dense Cs2 + Rb2 + K2 is decreased with the mixture density and achieves 280 ps. It is demonstrated experimentally that a train of 3 - 5 pulses with the pulse duration of approximately 300 ps is generated as a result of passive Q-switching of YAG:Nd3+ laser. Such experiments are possible to perform due to development of unique sapphire cell containing the mixture of molecular vapor. There are several advantages of the mixture usage as a Saturable Absorber for passive Q-switching of solid state lasers.