Most Recent Technical Publications

Introduction

At AOT we are confident that we can offer you a product range with unique pulse performance capabilities. However, we also believe that this is not enough and have a strong research and engineering programme to allow continuous development of performance. In particular, we have goals to provide shorter pulses still ( ie < 500ps) at the present repetition rates, and models achieving higher pulse energy with the pulse length and beam quality of the current lasers.

The notes below indicate our progress in some of the technical areas relevant to our lasers. Please click on the Adobe Acrobat logos to download a printer friendly version which you may read at leisure. If you don't have an Acrobat reader installed on your system, go to the adobe webpage page and download one for free.

To view our publications archive please click here

Technical Note 9

Fibre Delivery in the UV - Dec 2004

There are a growing number of applications for short intense UV pulses where delivery by a fibre optic cable would be advantageous. Tech Note (9) reports on our recent progress in this area with laser pulses in the ~ 1ns range from our ACE lasers.

Technical Note 10

Further into the Picosecond Pulse-Length Regime - Jan 2005

Further work on the study of resonators for short pulse operation is reported in Technical Note (10). Performance to < 500ps at 1064nm and to < 400ps at harmonic wavelengths was achieved.

As a result, AOT can announce that it is now able to offer customers performance in the sub-500ps regime.

Technical Note 11

Academic and Company Collaboration Yields Surprising Result - Aug 2005

Staff at AOT and the Department of Physics at Hull University have been working together for sometime on a programme of work to optimise Q-switched MOPA (Master Oscillator and Power Amplifier) performance for nanosecond pulses in diode-pumped SSL systems.

Technical Note 12

Simplified analysis of double-pass amplification with pulse overlap and application to Nd:YVO4 laser - Published Nov 2005

The abstract and references of our paper recently published in Optics Communications. In this paper we show that double pass amplification with pulse overlap can be described in a single step by a simple modification to the standard one-pass Franz-Nodvik equations.

Technical Note 13

Use of Photonic Fibre to Deliver ACE Laser Pulses Dec 2005

Further work into using Photonic fibres to deliver ACE laser pulses. In Technical note (9) we commented on the advent of photonic fibres and their (important) potential for TEM₀₀ laser power transmission without significant beam quality loss. In the interim period (to Dec 2005) we have undertaken some initial trials with short (~ 1m) lengths of such fibres.

Technical Note 14

Towards Short Pulses at > 100kHz Rep-Rates Feb 2006

A number of users have applications that would benefit from the availability of short Q-switched pulses at very high repetition rates. As a result, AOT has initiated a development programme to explore the practicality of a reliable > 100kHz short pulse product based on our ACE laser technology proven at lower rep-rates.

Technical Note 15

High Power Laser Models April 2007

Over the past ~ 12 months (2006/7) AOT undertook a programme of work directed at further improving it's range of short pulse lasers. The main objective was to develop an increased power capability (W/$ for customers) without sacrificing product efficiency, reliability or beam quality. The programme was successful and resulted in both a new high power oscillator and a new high power MOPA. These two new models (designated AOT-YVO-xxxQ and AOT-YVO-xxxQ/MOPA, respectively) were launched in April 2007.

Technical Note 16

Short Pulse Instrument Laser May 2007

The Model: AOT:YVO:25QI (instrument) laser is based on much of the same proven technology as other AOT products. It is primarily designed as a compact and reliable source for customers with a dedicated application in mind i.e. unlike our other models, the format does not offer users the option of a higher power amplified system or adding a standard harmonic unit.

Technical Note 17

Short Laser Pulses with Increased Energy

For those users requiring greater pulse energy, AOT have developed an improved Nd:YAG oscillator, one capable of >150焦/pulse at kHz rates. The development has not affected the short pulse durations achieved.

Technical Note 18

Short Laser Pulses at High Rep-Rate: January 2009

We report the operation of our SP oscillator customised for high rep-rate (50-100kHz) operation. We show that different optimisation of the resonator can deliver 100kHz pulses of either, (i) ~ 500ps duration to ~ 1W average power, or (ii) pulses of < 1ns to ~ 2W average power.