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Doped Insulator Lasers

Author: the photonics expert Dr. Rüdiger Paschotta (RP)

Definition: lasers with a solid-state gain medium containing a laser-active dopant

Categories: article belongs to category optical materials optical materials, article belongs to category laser devices and laser physics laser devices and laser physics

DOI: 10.61835/0ya Cite the article: BibTex plain text HTML Link to this page! LinkedIn

The term doped insulator lasers is sometimes used to more precisely address a specific class of solid-state lasers. These have a gain medium which is a transparent and electrically insulating solid material, in which the laser amplification is done by some dopant. The host medium can be a single crystal (monocrystalline medium), a glass or a ceramic. The laser-active constituents are dopant ions either in the group of trivalent rare earth ions (e.g. Nd³⁺, Yb³⁺ or Er³⁺) or from the transition metals (e.g. Ti³⁺, Cr⁴⁺, Cr³⁺ or Cr²⁺).

Not included in doped insulator lasers are lasers with other solid-state gain media such as semiconductor lasers, solid-state dye lasers or color center lasers.

The term solid-state lasers is normally used with the same meaning as doped insulator laser, effectively excluding various types of lasers with solid gain media.

More to Learn

solid-state lasers laser crystals laser glasses rare-earth-doped laser gain media transition-metal-doped laser gain media

Suppliers

The RP Photonics Buyer's Guide contains 90 suppliers for laser crystals. Among them:

Megawatt Lasers

MegaWatt Lasers Inc. has a large inventory of Nd:YAG, Er:YAG and CTH:YAG laser rods. We also can assist in the design and modeling for various applications.

EKSMA OPTICS

Laser crystals of various materials including neodymium-doped yttrium aluminum garnet (Nd:YAG), Yb-doped potassium gadolinium tungstate (Yb:KGW), Yb-doped potassium yttrium tungstate (Yb:KYW), Nd-doped potassium gadolinium tungstate (Nd:KGW, titanium-doped sapphire (Ti:sapphire) are available from EKSMA Optics.

Shalom EO

Shalom EO offers various kinds of laser crystals, including: Nd:YAG, Nd:Ce:YAG, Nd:YVO₄, CTH:YAG, Er:YAG, Yb:YAG, Ti:sapphire crystals and diffusion-bonded crystals. Nd:YAG and Nd:YVO₄ are popular crystals for 1064-nm lasers, Nd:Ce:YAG, CTH:YAG, and Er:YAG crystals are often used in the medical and cosmetic lasers, Ti:sapphire is for ultrafast lasers, Alexandrite is for long-pulsed and picosecond 755-nm lasers, diffusion bonding crystals are useful for OEM compact lasers.

Laserton

Laserton offers various types of laser crystals based on materials like Nd:YAG, Nd:YVO₄, Yb:YAG and Cr⁴:YAG. We can grow large diameter laser crystals with the Czochralski technique.

Optogama

Optogama offers different types of laser crystals such as Ti:sapphire, Pr:YLF, Yb-doped materials (Yb:KGW, Yb:KYW, Yb:CaF₂ etc.), Nd-doped crystals (Nd:KGW, Nd:YLF etc.), Er:Yb:phosphate glass, Er:Yb:YAB, Tm:YLF, Ho:YLF etc.

GWU-Lasertechnik

GWU offers all common laser crystals (Nd:YVO₄, Nd:YAG, Yb:YAG etc.) with a broad variety of specifications. Besides the well-established materials, innovative crystals with outstanding properties like Yb:CALGO can open new horizons for demanding laser applications. No matter whether individual pieces for R & D purposes are required or cost-efficient numbers in small, medium or large batches with in-time delivery for the production line are needed: GWU’s dedicated service helps to find the best core components for your application. GWU-Lasertechnik has more than 30 years of experience in distributing laser crystals. Choose GWU to benefit from our wide knowledge and in-field experience!

ALPHALAS

ALPHALAS offers many standard laser crystals like Nd³⁺:YAG, Yb³⁺:YAG, Nd³⁺:YVO4 and Nd³⁺:GdVO₄ with large stock inventory. Customer-specific dimensions, doping levels as well as HR, PR and AR coatings are also available.

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