Date of Award

Summer 1998

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Electrical & Computer Engineering

Program/Concentration

Electrical Engineering

Committee Director

Hani Elsayed-Ali

Committee Director

Matthew Poelker

Committee Member

Sacharia Albin

Committee Member

Amin N. Dharamsi

Abstract

I have investigated the possibility of using an injection modelocked Ti-sapphire laser as a illumination source for GaAs photocathodes. A commercial Ti-sapphire laser was modified to accept a seed pulse from a gain-switched diode laser. Modelocked operation was obtained through gain modulation within the Ti-sapphire crystal as a result of injection seeding with a modelocked pulse train from a gain-switched diode laser. The Ti-sapphire laser essentially becomes a pulse amplifier for the diode laser. Unlike conventional modelocked lasers, the pulse repetition rate of this laser can be discretely varied by setting the seed laser repetition rate equal to multiples of the Ti-sapphire laser cavity axial mode frequency. Pulse repetition rates from 223 MHz (fundamental) to 1560 MHz (seventh harmonic) were observed with an average output power of 700 mW for all repetition rates. Pulsewidths ranged from 21 to 39 ps (FWHM) under various pump laser conditions. This thesis includes: a survey of the state of the art in photocathode drive lasers, a qualitative description of injection modelocking, an experimental description of the injection modelocked Ti-sapphire laser, and measurements concerning pulse to pulse timing jitter and pulsewidth.

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DOI

10.25777/nwzm-4583

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