Garnet Crystals as Laser Hosts

doi:10.1117/3.660249.ch4

Book: The Physics and Engineering of Solid State Lasers

Author(s): Yehoshua Y. Kalisky

Published: 2006

https://doi.org/10.1117/3.660249.ch4

Author Affiliations +

Abstract

This chapter reviews some of the latest results for solid state lasers based mainly on oxide and fluoride hosts. Many other types of hosts have been sought and used, but these materials demonstrate the most commonly used laser materials as well as much of the research that has been conducted in laser development and materials. The solid state laser, initially developed in the 1960s, has seen a tremendous burst of technological development in the last decade. Developments include various types of diode-pumped solid state lasers, tunable and ultrafast solid state lasers, codoped lasers in which separate ions absorb pump energy and emit laser radiation, and upconversion lasers in which the laser output wavelength is shorter than the pumping wavelength.