Published online by Cambridge University Press: 21 February 2011
After some years of relatively little activity, the field of solid-state lasers has again become an important research area. Laser operation has been demonstrated in new combinations of laser-active ions and host crystals to provide wavelength-tunable output and the promise of greatly improved efficiency. This paper will discuss several currently interesting classes of laser materials: divalent-transition-metal-doped, rutile- and perovskite-structured fluoride crystals such as Co:MgF2 and V:KMgF3 , Ti3+-doped materials including Ti:A12O3 and a variety of large-lattice-size garnet crystals doped with Cr3+ and/or Nd3+.
This work was sponsored by the Department of the Air Force and the Department of Energy under a subcontract from the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory.