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When a new birefringent filter consisting of a polarizing beam splitter (PBS) and a half wave-plate (&lgr;/2), i.e.,
PBS-&lgr;/2 was included in a 1064nm Nd:YAG laser cavity, the laser was enforced to oscillate in single longitudinal
mode. The single longitudinal mode selecting ability of the intra-cavity filter of PBS-&lgr;/2 had been studied
experimentally by rotating the half wave-plate around the laser cavity axis, and the tuning characteristics of the
single-frequency laser output power versus the rotation angle of the half wave-plate had also been studied. An
orthogonally and linearly polarized dual-frequency Nd:YAG laser at 1064nm had been designed and demonstrated,
which included two standing-wave cavities sharing the same gain medium of Nd:YAG crystal and the birefringent filter
of PBS-&lgr;/2, the p-and s-components of the 1064nm laser light simultaneously oscillated in single longitudinal mode in
each cavity. The frequency-difference of the dual-frequency laser at 1064nm was measured to be approximately
1.87GHz, limited by the free spectral range of the scanning Fabry-Perot interferometer. It is predicted theoretically that
the frequency-difference of the dual-frequency laser at 1064nm can be tuned in a range from zero up to the lasing
bandwidth of the Nd:YAG laser.
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