Multiple-beam, pulse-burst, passively Q-switched ceramic Nd:YAG laser under micro-lens array pumping.

A novel four-beam (named laserI, laser II, laser III and laser IV, respectively), passively Q-switched, pulse-burst ceramic Nd:YAG laser under 2 × 2 micro-lens array pumping was demonstrated for the purpose of laser-induced plasma ignition (LIPI). Multiple-beam output together with pulse-burst mode in which both high repetition rate and high pulse energy can be realized simultaneously were obtained to greatly improve the performance of LIPI. The pulse-burst contained a maximum of 5 pulses, 3 pulses, 2 pulses and 3 pulses for laserI, laser II, laser III and laser IV, respectively, and the corresponding repetition rate of laser pulses in pulse-burst was 10.8 kHz, 7.2 kHz, 6.8 kHz and 5.2 kHz, respectively. The output energy for single laser pulse in pulse-burst was in the range of 0.12 mJ to 0.22 mJ.