Generation of ultrashort pulses in a YAG:Nd3+ laser in a colliding pulse scheme

An investigation was made of the time, energy, and statistical characteristics of a mode-locked picosecond YAG:Nd³⁺ laser operating in a colliding pulse scheme. There was no additional pulse shortening compared with a laser utilizing an absorber in contact with a nontransmitting mirror, but the reproducibility of the duration of the output pulses was high. The duration and the spectrum were determined directly. It was found that spectrally limited pulses were generated only for the central position of a cell containing a saturable absorber (dye No. 3274) in an antiresonance reflector.