Dy(2+):CaF(2) saturable-absorber Q switch for the ruby laser

Passive Q switching of a flash-lamp-pumped ruby laser has been demonstrated with a Dy(2+):CaF(2) saturable absorber at room temperature. Typically a single Q-switched pulse of 4.5 mJ and 94 ns was observed. At 694 nm, the ground-state absorption cross section and the excited-state absorption cross section of the Dy(2+):CaF(2) absorber were found to be 1.2 × 10(-18) cm(2) and 0.9 × 10(-18) cm(2) respectively, with a four-level slow-relaxing saturable-absorber model.