Diode-pumped Alexandrite ring laser in single-longitudinal mode operation for atmospheric lidar measurements

We present, to the best of our knowledge, design and performance data of the first diode-pumped Alexandrite ring laser in Q-switched single-longitudinal mode (SLM) operation. The laser resonator contains two Alexandrite crystals, which are pumped longitudinally by means of two laser diode-bar modules emitting at 636 nm. Single-longitudinal mode operation is achieved by seeding the laser with a diode laser operating in SLM and actively stabilizing the cavity, yielding a linewidth of < 10 MHz at the potassium resonance line at 770 nm. The pulse energy is 1 mJ at a repetition rate of 150 Hz and 0.65 mJ at 320 Hz. The beam quality of M2 < 1.2 in both directions remains unchanged for the different repetition rates. After characterization in the laboratory, the laser was implemented in a novel mobile lidar system and first atmospheric measurements were conducted successfully.