DKDP Pockels Cells

• Low absorption and high deuteration 
• Operates in the Longitudinal scheme, so applied voltage does not depend on crystal aperture, hence large apertures could be arranged without increasing the voltage
• High damage threshold dielectric AR coating options
• For fs applications due to low GVD

Applications:

• Pulse picking and Laser cavity dumping
• Q-switching of  low repetition rate diode-pumped lasers and flashlamp-pumped high energy lasers
• OEM laser systems
• Medical/cosmetic lasers
• Versatile R&D laser platforms
• Military & aerospace lasers
  

Specifications:

When it comes to practical applications of Pockels cells, one might need to take some additional side effects into account:

• Etalon effects might still exist and affect the optical performance if the beam direction is perpendicular to the faces of the crystal, Even when the end faces of the crystal are coated with high-quality AR coatings.
• The temperature could significantly affect the obtained phase changes. For example, a Pockels cell set to generate perfect high-contrast amplitude modulation might require readjustments of the operation voltages when the temperature changes. However, there are thermally compensated double-crystal designs that might circumvent the problem.
• For an operation with a large beam radius, it is worth paying attention to sort out an optimized design for electrodes (possibly with additional auxiliary electrodes for high uniformity of the generated electric field, as otherwise one may obtain a spatially varying modulation).
• Nonlinear crystals often exhibit substantial piezo-electric and electrooptic effects, which can have substantial influences on the performance at high modulation frequencies.
• Operating at high power levels, thermal effects may be induced by residual absorption of the crystal. Therefore materials with lower absorption are preferable for high-power applications
• The crystals used in Pockels cells are nonlinear crystal materials, they inherently demonstrate considerable optical nonlinearities. For instance, self-phase modulation and nonlinear self-focusing might occur for light pulses with substantial peak power.

Pockels Cell Comparison Chart: