Q-switching of a fiber laser with a single crystal photo-elastic modulator

A study of using a single crystal photo-elastic modulator for active Q-switching of a fiber laser is presented. The modulator, which oscillates in a longitudinal eigenmode, was realized with LiTaO(3). This induces due to the photo-elastic effect a modulated artificial birefringence which modulates the polarization of passing light. When used together with a polarizer inside a laser cavity the laser photon life time is strongly modulated and the laser may start to emit laser pulses. We realized this with a fiber laser based on a 5m long double clad Nd-doped fiber. The pulse repetition frequency was 400 kHz and the pulse duration 300ns.