The nanosecond frontend allows generating laser pulses with durations between 700 ps and 10 ns with programmable pulse shapes. The first system component was implemented completely with fiber technology. A commercial system (Photline) consists of a continuous wave laser source, a fiber amplifier, an acoustooptic modulator as well as an intensity modulator, which is controlled by an arbitrary signal generator (Tektronix AWG510). The fiber system delivers pulse energies up to 10 nJ. A flash lamp pumped regenerative Nd:glass ring amplifier then leads to energies up to 20 mJ with a repetition rate of 0.5 Hz.
