Influence of the spatial structure of seeding radiation on the generation of giant pulses in a laser with a Q-switched cavity

An experimental investigation was made of the special features of the formation of the spatial structure of giant pulses from narrow-band seeding radiation. This radiation was used successfully not only to reduce the width of the spectral band, but also to form the desired structure of the field of giant pulses. It was established that when the 'on' state of a Q switch was sufficiently long (~1 μs), a change in the ratio of the losses experienced by different transverse oscillation modes resulted in the generation of a second giant pulse. The latter pulse was formed from the wideband noise of the amplified luminescence and it represented a different transverse mode with a higher Q factor than that of the seeding radiation.