The nanosecond frontend enables the generation of laser pulses with durations ranging from 500 picoseconds to 10 nanoseconds and supports programmable temporal pulse shaping. The initial system component is entirely based on fiber technology.
A commercial system (ModBox, Exail) comprises:
- A continuous-wave laser source
- A fiber amplifier
- An acousto-optic modulator
- An intensity modulator, controlled by an arbitrary signal generator
This fiber-based system produces pulse energies of up to 10 nJ and acts as the seed source for the subsequent free-space, flash-lamp-pumped regenerative Nd:glass ring amplifier. This setup achieves output energies of up to 20 mJ with a repetition rate of 0.5 Hz.
