Multi-pulse laser generation based on programming diffraction loss of acousto-optic Q-switched RF excited waveguide CO2 lasers

Acousto-optic Q-switched (AOQ-switched) CO2 lasers always suffer from having a laser pulse with a long tail and lower energy utilization. The ability of an acousto-optic modulator (AOM) to quickly program diffraction losses provides an effective method to solve these problems. In this paper, a six-temperature model is built to analyze the dynamical properties of the AOQ-switched CO2 laser with programmable control of the diffraction loss. The AOQswitched laser pulse, or even the multi-pulse without a tail, can be achieved by precise adjusting of the delay time, pulse width, and pulse interval of the AOM control signal within a laser cycle. In the experiments, when the pulse width of the AOM control signal is reduced to 1 mu s, the AOQ-switched laser pulse without the tail is obtained with a peak power of 1.36 kW and a pulse width of 132 ns at the repetition of 5 kHz. Meanwhile, equal energy double- pulse, triple-pulse, and quadruple-pulse lasers can be achieved by precisely programming the delay time and pulse interval of the AOM control signal. The average power has been significantly improved. (c) 2024 Optica Publishing Group. All rights, including for text and data mining (TDM), Artificial Intelligence (AI) training, and similar technologies, are reserved.