Buyers comparing lasers for tattoo removal and pigmentation work often encounter two pulse technologies: picosecond lasers and Q-switched lasers. This page explains the conceptual difference between them, and it does so without presenting a Q-switched product page, because this site has no standalone Q-switched product model. The Q-switched term appears here only as a comparison concept, and any buyer who specifically needs a Q-switched system should ask the company for its specification sheet rather than assuming the picosecond model's figures apply to it.
The documented picosecond model on this site works at 1064nm, 755nm, and 532nm, switchable in software, with a pulse width of 450 picoseconds, energy adjustable from 10 to 2000 millijoules, a frequency of 1 to 10 hertz, a spot size of 2 to 10 millimeters, and a stated effective shot count of 5 million. Those are the documented figures for that model, transcribed on its product page, and they are the only figures this guide uses for the picosecond side of the comparison.
Conceptually, the difference between picosecond and Q-switched systems is a difference in pulse duration, and pulse duration affects how laser energy interacts with its target. A shorter pulse delivers energy in a briefer burst, and that difference is the reason buyers compare the two technologies for tattoo and pigmentation work. This page states that concept at a general level and does not attach a pulse duration, energy, or wavelength figure to any Q-switched model, because no such model is documented on this site and inventing those figures would turn a concept guide into a fake product comparison.
For a buyer, the practical consequence is that the comparison should be made against a specification sheet, not against this guide. If the company offers a Q-switched model, request its sheet and compare its wavelengths, pulse width, energy range, spot size, and shot count with the picosecond model's documented figures side by side. If it does not, the picosecond model should be evaluated on its own documented merits for the treatments planned, including tattoo removal, pigmentation, carbon peeling, and the other function statements attributed to its detail page.
The tattoo removal application page carries the same discipline: it presents the picosecond model as the documented option and treats Q-switched systems as a question for inquiry, not as a product on this site. That consistency matters, because a buyer who reads both pages should receive the same message, not a comparison on one page and a product claim on another.
Related pages: Picosecond laser · Tattoo removal applications · Aesthetic laser equipment