Synchronization of Several Q-Switched Optical Masers
Nguyen van Tran and D. Kehl Centre de Recherches de la Compagnie Generate d'Electricité, Département Recherches Physiques de Base, Marcoussis (Seine-et-Oise), France. Received 10 September 1965.
This Letter describes the scheme we have used to synchronize a Q-switched ruby laser with a neodymium-doped glass Q-switched laser.
168 APPLIED OPTICS / Vol. 5, No. 1 / January 1966
Figure 1 shows the experimental setup. P1 is a totally reflecting prism rotating at 24,000 rpm (the axis of rotation is into the paper, and the roof of the prism is perpendicular to the axis of rotation), M1 is a flat mirror with a multidielectric coating for maximum reflection at 6943 Å, M2 is a flat mirror (reflection coefficient 0.5 to 0.6 at 6943 Å), and, M3 is a flat mirror (reflection coefficient 0.8 at 1.06 μ).
The two lasers are Q switched by the same rotating prism P1.
Fig. 1. Experimental setup.
Fig. 2. Photographs of the outputs of the two Q-switched lasers. Upper trace, neodymium-doped glass laser; lower trace, ruby laser: (a) synchronous pulses; (b) neodymium laser leading;
(c) neodymium laser logging.
The two (helical) xenon flashtubes are triggered independently with proper delay time from the same reference signal generated in a coil linked with the rotating prism.
The synchronization is obtained by means of a slight rotation of mirror M1 around an axis parallel to the axis of rotation of the rotating prism.
In Fig. 2 are shown the oscillograms recorded from a double-beam 555 Tektronix.
January 1966 / Vol. 5, No. 1 / APPLIED OPTICS 169
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