13.8 - Fast pulse dumping and power buildup in a mode-locked He-Ne laser

A He-Ne laser has been mode locked by an internal modulator aud mode-locked pulses have been dumped from the cavity by an internal KDP deflector. Short (∼2ns) high peak-power pulses (30 watts) were detected at 6328 Å. Following a deflection event, the buildup of optical power in the cavity could be directly observed. Cavity buildup times of
\sim5\mu
s were evident, indicating that full-powered pulses may be deflected at rates up to 200 kHz, It was also noted that without any mode-locking modulation in the cavity, the laser builds up in quasi-mode-locked pulses which decay, leaving the CW remainder.