noun, verb ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   A technique by which a laser can be made to produce a pulsed output beam, with much higher power in each pulse than would be produced when operating as a continuous wave. uncountable

Verb

1. 1
   present participle and gerund of Q-switch form-of, gerund, participle, present

Synonyms

All synonyms

q-spoiling

Etymology

The Q stands for the quality factor of the resonator on the laser, which is altered in order to produce the pulse.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.