Self-Q-switched neodymium laser

A study was made of the emission from a neodymium-glass active element in an unstable resonator formed by plane and spherical mirrors. The dependences of the threshold pumping energy, output energy, and spatial distribution of the output radiation on the resonator length were determined. A close relationship was established between the emission parameters and the nature of the threshold curve. Giant pulses of 1–2 MW power were emitted for a certain resonator length. This length was used to estimate the refractive index of neodymium glass as a function of the population inversion.