Arbitrary wave-form-pulsed power source for flash-lamp-pumped solid-state lasers

Abstract

An arbitrary wave-form-pulsed power source for driving pulsed flash lamps electrically to pump quasi-continuous-wave Nd:YAG lasers has been developed. It is based on a high-frequency switching converter as opposed to conventional pulse-forming network or linear power amplifier circuit-based pulse generators. The system can generate rectangular pulses through the flash lamp with fine adjustment in pulse parameters over a wide range. The system can also generate an arbitrary-shaped pulsed current within a bandwidth of 500 Hz. The design of the system and the results in the form of rectangular- and arbitrary-shaped pulsed-current wave forms with different pulse parameters are presented. In addition, a burst of consecutive pulses with different arbitrary shapes can also be generated as desired or as programed. The developed pulsed power source offers advantages of more flexibility in control and adjustment of output pulse parameters, arbitrary-shaped pulse generation, better efficiency, compactness, and higher reliability as compared to the pulsed power sources based on normal schemes. The electronic system developed is of immense value in studying the dependence of flash-lamp impedance, spectral output, and energy-transfer efficiency on pulse parameters as well as optimization of these parameters for use in various laser material processing applications.