BRIEF COMMUNICATIONS: Self-locking of neodymium laser modes by alkali halide crystals with Z color centers
Ultrashort YAG:Nd laser pulses were generated using alkali halide crystals containing Z-type color centers as saturable absorbers. It was found experimentally that the most promising absorber was rubidium bromide doped with divalent alkali or rare-earth ions. This absorber was used in generation of pulses of ~40 psec duration with the probability of complete self-locking close to 100%.