A crystal such as KD*P, BBO or RTP whose birefringence changes with applied electric field. Driven to its quarter-wave or half-wave voltage, typically a few kilovolts, and combined with polarizers, it switches light on or off in nanoseconds. It is the Q-switch in many solid-state lasers and the gate that traps and releases pulses in regenerative amplifiers and pulse pickers.
Pockels cell timing drifted by a full round trip, so the regen is dumping early and the energy's down a third.
Pockels cell drivers carry kilovolts, so the crystal mount is a shock hazard as well as an optical one.
Also heard as
- PC
Related terms
Q-switching
Producing short, intense laser pulses by holding cavity losses high while energy builds up, then suddenly dropping them.
Regen
Clipped form of regenerative amplifier, the cavity that traps a seed pulse for many passes of gain before releasing it.
Waveplate
A birefringent plate that shifts the phase between two polarization components to rotate or convert polarization.
CPA
Chirped Pulse Amplification: stretching a short pulse before amplifying it, then recompressing it afterwards.