A cw YAG:Nd3+ laser with acoustoelectrooptic Q-switching

We investigate mechanical resonances in geometrically regular samples of a DKDP crystal. We establish that the resonances form during a strong coupling of Rayleigh acoustic modes of the crystal with shear modes. In the neighborhood of the resonance with maximum Q, the electric field that causes a half-wave strain in the crystal for λ = 0.63 μm is less than 5 V. An acoustoelectroooptic amplitude modulator for laser light is proposed on the basis of the results. We have verified experimentally that this modulator is compatible with a cw-pumped YAG laser. We have obtained periodic-pulse operation with a stable period. We have found that in this regime this new modulator is as good as an acoustooptic modulator with regard to efficiency of operation.