Suppression of spiking behavior in flashpumped 2-/spl mu/m lasers

Most pulsed solid-state lasers operating in a normal (long-pulse) mode exhibit transient spiking behavior, characteristic of relaxation oscillations. Suppression of this spiking behavior can be achieved using a number of passive techniques. In this paper, we describe the use of intracavity second-harmonic generation to achieve smooth, long-pulse operation of a flashpumped 2 /spl mu/m Cr,Tm:YAG laser.<
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