7. Conclusion

We presented the subject of solid-state laser sources, which have been in constant evolution since the early 1960s. The main physical parameters were presented, along with a few examples of numerical values for emission wavelengths from ultraviolet to infrared, spectral widths of fluorescence lines, lifetimes of the excited levels involved, absorption and stimulated emission cross-sections, laser resonant cavity modes, and coherence lengths of the emitted wave trains.

This first article on the fundamentals of solid-state laser source physics is one of a series of four on materials for laser optics. It is, in fact, the introduction to the other three, entitled respectively: Crystalline luminescence applied to solid-state laser sources doped with transition or rare-earth ions