Solid-state laser

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A solid-state laser is a laser that uses a gain medium that is a solid, rather than
a liquid as in dye lasers or a gas as in gas lasers. Semiconductor-based lasers are
also in the solid state, but are generally considered as a separate class from solid-
state lasers (see Laser diode).

Contents

 1Solid-state media
 2Pumping
 3Mode locking
 4Current applications and developments
 5See also
 6References

Solid-state media[edit]
Further information: List of laser types § Solid-state lasers
Generally, the active medium of a solid-state laser consists of
a glass or crystalline "host" material, to which is added a "dopant" such
as neodymium, chromium, erbium,[1] thulium[2] or ytterbium.[3] Many of the common
dopants are rare-earth elements, because the excited states of such ions are not
strongly coupled with the thermal vibrations of their crystal lattices (phonons), and
their operational thresholds can be reached at relatively low intensities of laser
pumping.
There are many hundreds of solid-state media in which laser action has been
achieved, but relatively few types are in widespread use. Of these, probably the most
common is neodymium-doped yttrium aluminum garnet (Nd:YAG). Neodymium-
doped glass (Nd:glass) and ytterbium-doped glasses or ceramics are used at very
high power levels (terawatts) and high energies (megajoules), for multiple-
beam inertial confinement fusion.
The first material used for lasers was synthetic ruby crystals. Ruby lasers are still
used for a few applications, but they are not common because of their low power
efficiencies. At room temperature, ruby lasers emit only short pulses of light, but
at cryogenic temperatures they can be made to emit a continuous train of pulses. [4]
Some solid-state lasers can also be tunable using several intracavity techniques,
which employ etalons, prisms, and gratings, or a combination of these.[5] Titanium-
doped sapphire is widely used for its broad tuning range, 660 to
1080 nanometers. Alexandrite lasers are tunable from 700 to 820 nm and yield
higher-energy pulses than titanium-sapphire lasers because of the gain medium's
longer energy storage time and higher damage threshold.

Pumping[edit]
Further information: Laser pumping
Solid state lasing media are typically optically pumped, using either
a flashlamp or arc lamp, or by laser diodes. Diode-pumped solid-state lasers tend to
be much more efficient and have become much more common as the cost of high-
power semiconductor lasers has decreased.

Mode locking[edit]
Mode locking of solid-state lasers and fiber lasers has wide applications, as large-
energy ultra-short pulses can be obtained. There are two types of saturable
absorbers that are widely used as mode lockers: SESAM, [6][7][8] and
SWCNT. Graphene has also been used.[9][10][11] These materials use a nonlinear optical
behavior called saturable absorption to make a laser create short pulses.