Lithium Niobate Q-Switch To Prevent Pre-Lasing Of High Gain Lasers Operating Over A Wide Temperature Range

Because of its ease of growth and large electro-optic effect, lithium niobate is the preferred choice for Q-switching mobile lasers. Temperature-induced pyro-electric charges however may lead to premature lasing. We manufactured and characterized temperature-stable LN Q-switch. A thermo-chemical anneal was performed creating a conductive material layer 0.5mm thick with increased conductivity. While this increases optical insertion loss by a few percent, this is tolerable in high gain lasers. We present details of treatment, the surface charge creation and dissipation mechanism and the setup used to assess the cold-performance used to demonstrate improved charge dissipation when compared to untreated crystals.