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Properties of solid-state laser materials

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Solid-State Laser Engineering

Part of the book series: Springer Series in Optical Sciences ((SSOS,volume 1))

Abstract

Materials for laser operation must possess sharp fluorescent lines, strong absorption bands, and a reasonably high quantum efficiency for the fluorescent transition of interest. These characteristics are generally shown by solids (crystals or glass) which incorporate in small amounts elements in which optical transitions can occur between states of inner, incomplete electron shells. Thus the transition metals, the rare earth (lanthanide) series, and the actinide series are of interest in this connection. The sharp fluorescence lines in the spectra of crystals doped with these elements result from the fact that the electrons involved in transitions in the optical regime are shielded by the outer shells from the surrounding crystal lattice. The corresponding transitions are similar to those of the free ions. In addition to a sharp fluorescence emission line, a laser substance suitable for optical pumping should possess broad-band pump transitions since, as a rule, only broad-band light sources, i.e., incandescent lamps, cw arc lamps, or flashlamps are available as pump sources for optically pumped solid-state lasers.

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  1. Korad Division of Hadron, Inc., 2520 Colorado Ave., 90404, Santa Monica, Calif., USA

    Walter Koechner

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Koechner, W. (1976). Properties of solid-state laser materials. In: Solid-State Laser Engineering. Springer Series in Optical Sciences, vol 1. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-8519-7_2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-8519-7_2

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