Polarisation dynamics of a Nd:YAG ceramic laser

We report an experimental study of the polarisation dynamics of a dual-polarisation microchip Nd:YAG ceramic laser. Our results demonstrate dual-polarisation operation of the polycrystalline Nd:YAG laser. The low-frequency dynamics in this regime involves three types of relaxation oscillations, two of which are responsible for antiphase dynamics of the intensities of orthogonally polarised modes. Linearly polarised pump light induces gain anisotropy in the Nd:YAG ceramic, as in Nd:YAG single-crystal lasers. We present a comparative analysis of the behaviour of orthogonally polarised modes in Nd:YAG single-crystal lasers and the Nd:YAG ceramic laser, with a random orientation of the crystallographic axes in each grain (microcrystal), describe a technique for evaluating the total cavity loss from the relaxation oscillation spectrum and compare single-crystal and ceramic active elements. Experimental evidence is presented for gain anisotropy, loss anisotropy and phase anisotropy in ceramic and single-crystal microchip lasers.