Device for measuring energy transfer rates during lasing

Abstract

This device is used to measure effective energy transfer rates for a laser during lasing. It accounts for contributions to the total energy transfer rate from all component sources since measurement occurs during lasing action. An intracavity modulator operating within the optical cavity of a laser periodically interrupts lasing. The laser output is coupled to a fast response detector. The detector output is coupled to a waveform signal averager which removes random noise from the waveform. The signal is averaged to produce a clean accurate picture of the detector output which is then coupled to an x-y plotter. The x-y plotter provides a graph of signal level versus time of the output signal and provides the exponential tail from which the total energy transfer rate is obtained. Data from the x-y plotter is then replotted as a semi-log plot and the slope of this semi-log plot gives the time constant which is the total energy transfer rate.