Jitter and the minimal pulse repetition rate of a diode-pumped passively Q-switched solid-state laser

The jitter of radiation pulses from diode-pumped passively Q-switched Nd³⁺:Y₃Al₅O₁₂ (Nd:YAG) and Nd³⁺:Ca₃Ga₂Ge₃O₁₂ (Nd:CGGG) crystal lasers is studied. It is found that the jitter j depends on the laser pulse repetition rate f as j = A/f^γ. It is shown that the minimal pulse repetition rate f_L of the laser is determined by the jitter parameters A and γ and is equal to A^1/(γ-1). For the Nd:YAG and Nd:CGGG lasers, f_L was 14 Hz and 5 Hz, respectively.