The laser was invented by T. H. Maiman in 1960, which is a milestone in the development of optics [
1]. With a flashlamp pumping, the laser pulse consisted of irregular spikes [
2]. To solve this problem, R. W. Hellwarth proposed an important technique known as
Q-switching [
3]. For a laser oscillator, higher quality factor
Q means lower energy losses, and vice versa [
4]. In the
Q-switched laser, laser oscillation is initially disabled due to a low
Q factor, and then large population inversion can be created in the active medium. When the oscillator
Q is switched to a high value, laser oscillation builds up, and the stored energy will be converted to a so-called “giant laser pulse” [
4,
5]. In 1962, the actively
Q-switched laser was experimental demonstrated with a Kerr-cell
Q-switch [
5]. The
Q-switched lasers achieved high peak power levels and opened the way for nonlinear optics [
6]. Compared with passively
Q-switched lasers, the active
Q-switches are more controllable and can support higher laser power [
4,
7]. In addition, the active
Q-switches can contribute to cavity dumping, dumping optical energy out of the oscillator cavity [
7]. The techniques of
Q-switching and cavity dumping can also be employed in regenerative lasers with injection seeding [
4,
8]. Expanding the application of lasers, it is important to develop these laser techniques further. Here we proposed a novel kind of laser source, multi-operation laser, which has different lasing characteristics for different operation modes (OMs). Most of laser sources are usually operated in one or two OMs, while the multi-operation laser can be operated in more OMs. The multi-operation laser could be operated in different OMs for different application requirements. The multi-operation laser could be very helpful to the comparison research of different laser techniques [
7,
9], and would be a promising “all-rounder” for various applications [
6,
10]. To date, little attention has been devoted to the research of multi-operation lasers. The multi-operation laser technology would be quite important for the efficient and versatile utilization of laser sources. Therefore, more effort should be required for the development of multi-operation laser technology.