  We have constructed a pulsed laser system for the manipulation of cold Rb
atoms. The system combines optical telecommunications components and frequency
doubling to generate light at 780 nm. Using a fast, fibre-coupled intensity
modulator, output from a continuous laser diode is sliced into pulses with a
length between 1.3 and 6.1 ns and a repetition frequency of 5 MHz. These pulses
are amplified using an erbium-doped fibre amplifier, and frequency-doubled in a
periodically poled lithium niobate crystal, yielding a peak power up to 12 W.
Using the resulting light at 780 nm, we demonstrate Rabi oscillations on the F
= 2 <-> F=3-transition of a single 87Rb atom.
