Kerr-lens mode-locked oscillators such as many Ti:sapphire lasers often are not self-starting: they sit happily in continuous mode until an intensity spike gets the pulse going. Operators kick them by tapping or quickly translating a prism or end mirror, and many commercial lasers have a built-in starter that wiggles an optic on command. Once kicked, the pulse sustains itself.
It came up CW after the power blip, give the prism a kick and watch the spectrum broaden.
Also heard as
- kick-start
Related terms
Mode locking
Fixing the phases of many longitudinal modes so they add up into a train of ultrashort pulses.
Ti:sapph
Titanium-doped sapphire, the broadband tunable laser crystal behind most femtosecond oscillators and amplifiers.
Lock
The stable locked state of a laser, either mode-locked pulsing or frequency-locked to a reference.
CW breakthrough
A narrow continuous-wave spike in a mode-locked laser's spectrum, showing part of the power is not pulsing.
Same word, different worlds
To gel or cure suddenly, as in a resin kicking in the cup or a CA kicking with accelerator.
ElectrotechnologyShop verb for a breaker, overload or relay tripping, as in the breaker kicked.
Concrete & CementTo start setting, usually sooner than the crew expected; a load that kicks stiffens fast.
RailroadingTo shove a cut of cars, uncouple it on the move and let it roll free onto a track.