Ti:sapphire: Material, Lasers and Amplifiers

Abstract

The Ti:Al2O3 (Ti:sapphire) laser has several ancestors, including the first laser [1], based on the crystal ruby, formally Cr3+ ions doped into sapphire (Al2O3). Ti:sapphire employs the same robust host crystal as in ruby, which is crucial for the ruby laser to operate under the intense optical pumping from flashlamps, required by the three-level nature of the ruby laser transition. Another class of ancestors were the first broadly tunable solid-state lasers, based on divalent transition-metal ions, such as Ni2+ and Co2+, doped into mainly fluoride host crystals, such as MgF2 [25]. While these types of lasers could be tuned over an impressive range of wavelengths (16002500 nm in the case of Co:MgF2 [6]),the low gain and the general need to operate under cryogenic cooling were drawbacks that limited their utility

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jan 01, 2021
Accession Number
AD1147443

Entities

People

  • Alan Fry
  • Peter Fendel
  • Peter Moulton

Organizations

  • MIT Lincoln Laboratory
  • Stanford University
  • Thorlabs

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Energy and Power Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Dye Lasers
  • Frequency Combs
  • Laser Applications
  • Laser Beams
  • Laser Diodes
  • Laser Mediums
  • Laser Pulses
  • Laser Resonators
  • Lasers
  • Light (Electromagnetic Radiation)
  • Liquid Dye Lasers
  • Masers
  • Optical Properties
  • Optics
  • Refractive Index
  • Semiconductors
  • Solid State Lasers

Fields of Study

  • Physics

Readers

  • Materials Science and Engineering.
  • Molecular Photonics/Laser Physics
  • Systems Analysis and Design

Technology Areas

  • Directed Energy