Pulsed output generation in a diode-pumped cesium vapor laser using the cavity dumping technique.

Cavity dumping is demonstrated in a diode-pumped alkali laser (DPAL) using a Pockels cell. We generated a 14 ns FWHM pulse with a peak power of 77 W from a 3.1 W continuous wave cesium DPAL. Due to the limitation of the high-voltage power supply, the pulse repetition rate is restricted to 100 Hz. Periodic spikes contained in the temporal profile of the pulse were observed, presumably due to interference between the two longitudinal modes. As a result, the peak power of the pulse was enhanced from the average power stored in the optical resonator. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first demonstration of enhanced pulsed output generation in a DPAL.