Ti : sapphire laser pumped by the second harmonic of a pulsed diode-pumped Nd : YAG laser for two-photon spectroscopy

The characteristics of a ring Ti : sapphire laser with gain modulation and frequency tuning using a prism beamsplitter are presented. The output pulse duration was about 50 ns at a pulse repetition rate of 7–18 kHz, and the frequency tuning range was 30 nm. The radiation bandwidth of the laser with a 0.7-mm-thick intracavity Fabry–Perot etalon was 12 GHz. The maximum average output power reached 160 mW at the pump power of 4.5 W and the pulse repetition rate of 7 kHz. As a pump laser, we used a diode-pumped frequency-doubled Q-switched Nd :YAG laser.