Patent 7420995 was granted and assigned to Electro Scientific Industries on September, 2008 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
A simultaneously mode-locked, Q-switched laser is configured to prevent loss of mode lock during laser operation. A preferred embodiment prevents loss of mode lock by operating the laser between the Q-switched pulses with a residual level of laser power sufficient to maintain a mode-locked state. The residual laser power output can be blocked by a pulse picking device.