Abstract
In this chapter we will investigate different types of practical lasers that are often used in the laboratory. Owing to the recent advances in high-power and high-brightness laser diodes, diode-pumped solid-state lasers are the most important lasers today and into the future. Therefore, the lasers described below all belong to the solid-state laser category, with the exception of the HeNe laser, a gas laser, which is a well known device still widely used as precision alignment laser in the laboratory. Another important gas laser is the CO2 laser, which uses a molecular transition excited via electronically excited N2 molecules, using a He buffer gas for cooling and reduction of the lifetime of the lower laser level. This laser is the most efficient gas laser with electrical-to-optical efficiencies of up to 30 %.
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Eichhorn, M. (2014). Laser Examples and Their Applications. In: Laser Physics. Graduate Texts in Physics. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-05128-4_5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-05128-4_5
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