USA as Represented by Secretary of the Navy

Barry J Feldman

Steven R Bowman

Leslie Brandon Shaw

Joseph Ganem

A high-efficiency fluorescent emitter includes an excitation source and a w phonon host doped with erbium. The emitter can be used as a lasing medium or as a phosphor. Typical hosts include RcX.sub.3 and chalcogenide glasses, wherein Rc is yttrium, gadolinium, lutetium, lanthanum or a mixture thereof, and X is a halogen or a mixture of halogens.

Erbium-doped low phonon hosts as sources of fluorescent emission

The present invention is a solid state laser, including: (1) a laser cavity defined by a first mirror and an opposing second mirror, where these mirrors are reflective at the output wavelength of the laser; (2) a laser medium disposed in the laser cavity, including a low phonon energy host material, doped with an amount of praseodymium ions sufficient to produce a longitudinal mode laser emission from the transition of the praseodymium ions from the .sup.3 F.sub.3 excited state to a lower energy state when the laser medium is pumped by an appropriate pump, where the energy gap between the .sup.3 F.sub.3 excited state and the lower energy state corresponds to the output wavelength of the laser; and (3) a pump for the laser medium.

Optically pumped, praseodymium based solid state laser

The directly pumped holmium (Ho) quasi-two level laser of the invention comprises a directly pumped holmium laser having a host material doped with an amount of holmium ions sufficient to produce an output laser emission at a wavelength of about 2.1 .mu.m when the holmium laser is pumped by a pump beam at a wavelength of about 2 .mu.m and a pumping laser for producing the pump beam. In an exemplary embodiment, the pumping laser comprises a Cr,Tm:YAG laser pumped by a flashlamp.

Holmium quasi-two level laser

A pulsed CO.sub.2 laser that eliminates the nitrogen tail on the pulse by placing a Brewster angle absorption cell inside the optical cavity of the laser. This Brewster angle absorption cell contains a gas which exhibits a preferential absorption in the 10 .mu.m spectral regime. This preferential absorption causes the laser to lase in the 9.6 .mu.m regime which allows for easier harmonic generation and elimination of the nitrogen tail.

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Arlington, VA, United States of America

Barry J Feldman