Improved Q-Switch Drivers

Improved circuits that generate high-voltage pulses for driv-ing Q-switched lasers have been devised. To extract maximum energy from a laser cavity in the form of consistent laser pulses, the Q-switch pulses must rise rapidly so that the Q-switch is fully open before each laser pulse occurs. The Q-switch drivers placed in use heretofore generate high-voltage pulses that rise rapidly enough to accommodate the short laser-pulse-evolution times, but many conventional Q-switch drivers produce high-voltage pulses which are so short that accurate timing is needed to ensure that the laser pulses occur while the Q-switches are fully open. The timing problem is compounded, and thus the range of usable operating conditions reduced, by the variability of the laser-pulse-evolution time with variations in the storage and loss of laser-pumping energy.