Q-Switching

A shutter is introduced in front of one mirror of a laser cavity.

The active medium is continuously pumped, keeping the
shutter closed.
The population inversion in the cavity goes on increasing
and reaches a value far above the threshold.
If now the shutter is suddenly opened, the energy stored in
the cavity will be released in the form of a short pulse of
energy with a high peak value of intensity.
The technique of producing a short intense pulse of light →
Q-switching.
Figure 1. Variation with time of
(a) loss
(b) Q
(c) population inversion, and
(d) Laser output power
when a laser Q-switched.
Requirements to be Satisfied
 Methods of Q-Switching
1. Mechanical rotation of one of the laser mirrors
about an axis normal to the resonator axis.

When the mirrors are not parallel, losses are large.

Timing of the pump pulse is such that the threshold
reaches a maximum as the two mirrors are getting
parallel.

As soon as the mirrors become parallel, a giant

pulse appears in the output.

A resonator of length 50 cm requires ∼30,000

revolutions per minute.
The time in which Q of the resonant cavity switches
from maximum to minimum is ∼100 ns.
2. Use of an electro-optic shutter, such as a Kerr cell or a Pockels cell, as a voltage
controlled gate inside the resonator.

When the cell is biased, a double pass

through the electro-optic material
rotates the linearly polarised light
through 90 .
This 90 polarised beam is rejected by
the Brewster window of the amplifier
and directed out of the cavity.
When the applied voltage is removed,
the cell loses its birefringence, and it
does not rotate the polarisation.

_________________________________________________________________________________
Pockels effect → index of refraction of an electro-optic material changes linearly with applied electric field
Kerr effect → induces a degree of birefringence that is proportional to the square of the applied voltage
3. Inclusion of a saturable absorber in the optical resonator.
The material may be an ion-doped crystal like Cr:YAG, which is used for Q-
switching of Nd:YAG lasers, a bleachable dye, or a passive semiconductor device.
As the power level inside the cavity
goes on increasing, the absorber
begins to get bleached.
The bleaching results in a large
transmittance which in turn
increases the power level inside
the cavity.
The increased power results in a
larger bleaching and thus the dye
becomes almost transparent.
Since in this condition the inversion is much more than the threshold inversion, the
gain is much more than the losses and thus a giant pulse is produced.
Peak Power, Total Energy and Pulse Duration in a Q-Switched Pulse

Considering only one mode of the laser resonator, and the lower laser level to
be essentially unpopulated →

=− − + … 1

= + − … (2)

If the lower level is not unpopulated →

=− + − + , … (3)

where the second term on the RHS is the contribution due to absorption by
atoms per unit volume in the lower level.
Since the Q-switched pulse is of a very short duration, we will neglect the
effect of the pump and spontaneous emission during the generation of the Q-
switched pulse.
However, it must be noted that for the start of the laser oscillation,
spontaneous emission is essential.
Thus, from (3) →

/
=− ∆ /
, … (4)

where
∆ /
= − , /
= , … (5)

V → volume of the amplifying medium

Similarly, the rate of change of population of the lower level →

/
= ∆ /
… (6)

where
/
= .

Subtracting Eq. (6) from Eq. (4) →

2
∆ /
=− ∆ /
… (7)
In analogy to Eq. (2), we write the rate of change of the photon number in the
cavity mode as

= − − +

≈ ∆ /
− , … (8)

where the spontaneous emission term is again neglected.

In the RHS of Eq. (8), the gain represented by the first term equals the loss
represented by the second term at threshold. Hence the threshold population
inversion →

∆ /
# = … (9)
Writing

= … (10)

we obtain

2 ∆ /

∆ /
=− … (11)
∆ / #

and

∆ /

= −1 … (12)
∆ /
#
Equations (11) and (12) are nonlinear, and solutions can be obtained
numerically by starting from an initial condition
∆ /
=0 = Δ %,
/
and =0 = % … (13)

Subscript ) → initial values.

Here % → initial small number of photons excited in the cavity mode
through spontaneous emission.

Since the system is initially pumped to an inversion, ∆ / > ∆ /

#, /
is positive; thus the number of photons increases with time.
Maximum number of photons in the cavity appear when / = 0, i.e.,
when ∆ / = ∆ / # .
As ∆ / further reduces below ∆ /
#, we see from Eq. (11) that this results
in a decrease in .
Dividing Eq. (12) by eq. (11) →

1 (Δ / )#
= −1
(Δ / ) 2 Δ /

Integrating →
1 Δ /

− % = Δ #+
/
+ Δ /
% − Δ /
… (14)
2 Δ /
%
 Peak Power

Assuming the only loss mechanism to be due to output coupling, the

instantaneous power output →
/0
,-.# = … (15)

Peak power corresponds to maximum which occurs when ∆ /

= ∆ /
#.
Thus,

123 /0 /0 ∆ #
/

,123 = = ∆ /
# + + Δ /
% − ∆ /
# , … (16)
2 Δ /
%

neglecting % (the small number of initial spontaneous photons in the cavity).

 Total Energy

Substituting for in eq. (12) from eq. (11) →

1
=− ∆ /
− … (17)
2
Integrating from τ = 0 to ∞ →
6
1
4 − % = ∆ % −∆ 4 −5
2
6
1
or 5 = ∆ % −∆ 4 − 4 − % … (18)
2
Subscript 7 → final value.
Since % and 4 are very small in comparison to the total integrated number
of photons, we neglect them and obtain

6
1
5 ≈ ∆ /
% − ∆ /
4
2

Thus, the total energy in the Q-switched pulse →

6 6
8 = 5 ,9:; = /0 5

1
= ∆ /
% − ∆ /
4 /0 … (20)
2
Derivation of Eq. (20) through physical arguments

For every additional photon appearing in the cavity mode, there is an atom
making a transition from the upper to the lower energy level.

For every atom making this transition, the population inversion reduces by 2.

Thus, if the population inversion changes from ∆ /

% to ∆ /
4, the total
number of photons emitted must be

Eq. (20) follows immediately.

 Pulse Duration

Dividing the total energy by the peak power, approximate estimate for the
duration of the Q-switched pulse can be obtained. Thus,
8 ∆ /
% − ∆ /
4
< = = . … (21)
,123 Δ #
Δ #+ + Δ − Δ
/

Δ % #
/ / /

%
/

We still have the unknown quantity Δ / 4 . We may use Eq. (14) for → ∞.
Since the final number of photons in the cavity is small,
∆ /
%
∆ /
% − ∆ /
4 = ∆ /
# + … (22)
∆ /
4

From this, we can obtain ∆ /

4 for a given set of ∆ /
% and ∆ /
#.
/