Broad band, tunable passive Q-switching with semiconductor doped glass filters

Passive Q-switching using semiconductor doped glass filters is demonstrated for the recently developed class of broad band, tunable, solid state lasers. Saturation of the absorption in such filters in the 800-900 nm region is reported along with data on efficient Q-switching of a Cr: LiSAF laser producing single pulses as short as 19 ns and energies as high as 95 mJ per pulse. Data on laser induced darkening of the filters is also presented. © 1994