Crystalline Luminescence Applied to Laser Sources

This article on crystalline luminescence applied to laser sources is one of four on the general presentation of solid-state laser sources [AF 3 275] , crystals and nonlinear optics [AF 3 278] and the generation of short (ns) to ultrashort laser pulses down to the femtosecond (fs) [AF 3 282] . The main objective is to describe the physics of inorganic luminescent materials applied to lasers emitting in the optical range (ultraviolet, visible and near infrared), either fine lines mainly with rare-earth ions for fixed-wavelength lasers, or broad bands for tunable-wavelength lasers mainly with transition ions. Numerous examples of spectroscopic characterizations of major crystals illustrate the spectral domains in which lasers can be used. Today's lasers tend to be compact, easy to handle and transport, continuous or pulsed (ns-ps-fs), with increased use of pumping by power laser diodes in the near infrared, which can also be combined with suitable nonlinear crystals, leading to "all-solid-state lasers".