Pulse shaping effects in Q-switched laser oscillators

Numerical calculations based on simple balance equations to obtain the output intensity of Q-switched laser oscillators are replaced by a new approach which also takes account of travelling wave effects inside the cavity. The output intensity is calculated for different gain factors and switching functions.It is demonstrated that the output pulses show a strong modulation for high gain factors which have been realised experimentally recently, This result stands in contradiction to simpler theories where unjustified extensions of the validity range have been assumed.