Laser crystals: a materials chemist point of view

摘要

Among the various characteristics of solid-state lasers their emission wavelength, operating regime and output power are of major importance. This paper shows how chemical concepts can help to design or choose the best laser material for a given set of characteristics through the "structure properties relationships". Specific examples are given for the three above-mentioned properties: Neodymium activated lasers operating in the ~4F_(3/2) → ~4I_(9/2) channel and Cr~(4+) activated materials, for the wavelength adjustment; Ytterbium doped crystals for femtoseconds pulses generation, as an example of the material adaptation to a laser operating regime; Prediction of the thermal conductivity of a material: an important parameter for the production of high power laser beams.