Abstract: A CW pumped regenerative laser amplifier system capable of producing amplified laser pulses of variable repetition rate (e.g., 10 Hz to 10 kHz) with high energy stability. The regenerative amplifier is seeded by pulses injected into the optical cavity of the amplifier from a CW pumped modelocked laser.

Abstract: A Pockels cell driver using a microwave triode which transfers charge from a high voltage source to a Pockels cell via a storage capacitor. The microwave tube is controlled, through its grid voltage, by two pulse amplifiers each having a plurality of tandem field effect transistor (FET) stages so as to increase the voltage across the cell in two steps having a selected delay therebetween. The driver is especially useful for seeding and extracting output pulses from a regenerative laser amplifier having the Pockels cell within its cavity. The driver may be used to operate a Pockels cell as a switchout or shutter to select a single pulse from a pulse laser such as a mode-locked Q-switched laser.