Apparatuses and methods are disclosed for applying laser energy having desired pulse Characteristics, including a sufficiently short duration and/or a sufficiently high energy for the photomechanical treatment of skin pigmentations and pigmented lesions, both naturally-occurring (e.g., birthmarks), as well as artificial (e.g., tattoos). The laser energy may be generated with an apparatus having a resonator with the capability of switching between a modelocked pulse operating mode and an amplification operating mode. The operating modes are carried out through the application of a time-dependent bias voltage, having waveforms as described herein, to an electro-optical device positioned along the optical axis of the resonator.

The present disclosure discloses a double trigger type single pulse laser apparatus configured to suppress additional pulses to increase single pulse energy and improve stability of output as compared to a conventional single trigger type single pulse laser apparatus. According to the present invention, there is provided a single pulse laser apparatus including a resonator which has a first mirror, a second mirror, a gain medium, an electro-optic modulator and an acousto-optic modulator configured to respectively perform Q-switching and mode-locking, the single pulse laser apparatus including a first photodiode configured to measure a laser beam oscillated by the resonator.

Apparatuses and methods are disclosed for applying laser energy having desired pulse characteristics, including a sufficiently short duration and/or a sufficiently high energy for the photomechanical treatment of skin pigmentations and pigmented lesions, both naturally-occurring (e.g., birthmarks), as well as artificial (e.g., tattoos). The laser energy may be generated with an apparatus having a resonator with the capability of switching between a modelocked pulse operating mode and an amplification operating mode. The operating modes are carried out through the application of a time-dependent bias voltage, having waveforms as described herein, to an electro-optical device positioned along the optical axis of the resonator.

A system and method of producing energetic laser pulses suitable for multi-photon microscopy, in which laser pulses from an ultrafast pump source operating at greater than 40 MHz repetition rate are directed onto an optical cavity, where the pulses build-up to a higher energy inside of that cavity over the period of many pulses. After the intra-cavity pulses achieve sufficient energy, an active element inside of the cavity switches out the enhanced light pulse with a reduced a repetition rate relative to the pump source. The increased pulse energy and reduced repetition rate will enable the pump source, originally designed for two-photon microscopy, to perform new imaging modalities, such as deep, in-vivo, three-photon microscopy.

A laser system includes a first laser source with a laser resonator for generating a first pulsed laser beam. The resonator has a back mirror, an outcoupling mirror and an active lasing medium in between. The system includes a second laser source for generating a second pulsed laser beam and an optical block. The optical block includes a coupling polarizer and a first polarization rotator. The optical block is movable back and forth between an active position and a passive position. In its active position the optical block is located between the outcoupling mirror and the active lasing medium such that the coupling polarizer couples the second beam into the laser resonator of the first laser source while the first rotator is positioned between the outcoupling mirror and the coupling polarizer. In the active position of the optical block a second polarization rotator is between it and the back mirror.

A core-shell nanowire laser structure comprises a substrate (12), an elongated support element (14) extending from the substrate, the support element having a first diameter, and an elongated body element (16) extending on and/or around the support element, the body element having a second diameter at least two times larger than the first diameter, wherein the body element is spaced apart from the substrate.

A voltage-controllable output coupler for a laser, comprising: a liquid crystal cell that provides a change in birefringence in response to an applied voltage; and a polariser oriented with respect to the liquid crystal cell to collectively form a variable reflectance mirror for the laser; wherein output coupling of the laser is controllable by applying voltage to the liquid crystal cell for a switching interval to switch the variable reflectance mirror from high reflectance to low reflectance, and vice versa, thus actively Q-switching or cavity dumping the laser.

Apparatuses and methods are disclosed for applying laser energy having desired pulse characteristics, including a sufficiently short duration and/or a sufficiently high energy for the photomechanical treatment of skin pigmentations and pigmented lesions, both naturally-occurring (e.g., birthmarks), as well as artificial (e.g., tattoos). The laser energy may be generated with an apparatus having a resonator with the capability of switching between a modelocked pulse operating mode and an amplification operating mode. The operating modes are carried out through the application of a time-dependent bias voltage, having waveforms as described herein, to an electro-optical device positioned along the optical axis of the resonator.

The present invention relates to a laser system and a method of generating a defined spatial mode-shaped laser beam using an unstable laser resonator layout. The laser system for mode shaping of a laser beam within an unstable optical resonator layout comprising an active medium, characterized in that, the active media comprises a pumped area, wherein the gain distribution is generated by an optical pump beam's spatially intensity profile. In a preferred embodiment, the system may further comprise an end-pumped layout to deliver the spatially shaped optical pump beam to the active medium; and/or an active element and/or a passive element for modifying the resonator losses; and/or means of output coupling of a laser beam from said unstable resonator layout. The system according to the present invention is suitable to deliver a top-hat beam profile.

Apparatuses and methods are disclosed for applying laser energy having desired pulse characteristics, including a sufficiently short duration and/or a sufficiently high energy for the photomechanical treatment of skin pigmentations and pigmented lesions, both naturally-occurring (e.g., birthmarks), as well as artificial (e.g., tattoos). The laser energy may be generated with an apparatus having a resonator with the capability of switching between a modelocked pulse operating mode and an amplification operating mode. The operating modes are carried out through the application of a time-dependent bias voltage, having waveforms as described herein, to an electro-optical device positioned along the optical axis of the resonator.