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7 - Optically pumped solid-state lasers

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 June 2014

Christopher C. Davis
Christopher C. Davis
Affiliation:
University of Maryland, College Park
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Summary

Introduction

In this chapter we shall discuss in some detail the operating principles, characteristics, and design features of solid-state lasers in which the laser medium is an insulating or glassy solid. In many of these lasers the active particles are impurity ions doped into a host matrix. These lasers are pumped optically, with a pulsed or continuous lamp, and most commonly by another laser. Our discussion will build on the brief introduction to one laser of this class, namely the ruby laser, given in Chapter 3. The chapter will conclude with a discussion of the characteristics of the radiation emitted by such lasers and how this radiation can be modified and controlled in time.

Optical pumping in three- and four-level lasers

Optical pumping in an insulating solid-state laser is illustrated schematically in Fig. 7.1. Light from the pumping lamp(s) excites ground-state particles into an absorption band, labeled 3 in the figure. Ideally, particles that reach this state should transfer rapidly into the upper laser level, level 2. If transfer occurs preferentially to level 2 rather than to level 1, a population inversion will result between levels 2 and 1, and laser action can be obtained. The drain transition from level 1 back to the ground state should be fast, in order to keep level 1 from becoming a “bottleneck.” The performance of the laser will be influenced by several factors.

Type
Chapter
Information
Lasers and Electro-optics
Fundamentals and Engineering
 , pp. 153 - 205
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2014

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References

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