Page 6 - Handbook of Lasers

Ultraviolet Visible
Millimeter-
Soft Vacuum
X-ray Far infrared
Infrared
x-ray ultraviolet
microwave
Gas lasers: Masers
3.9 nm

Liquid lasers:
0.33 mm 1.8 mm

Solid-state lasers:
0.17 mm
360 mm

0.001 0.01 0.1 1.0 10 100 1000
Wavelength ( mm)
Figure 1 Reported ranges of output wavelengths for various laser media.

In this volume lasers are categorized based on their media—solids, liquids, and gases—
with each category further subdivided as appropriate into distinctive laser types. Thus there
are sections on crystalline paramagnetic ion lasers, glass lasers, polymer lasers, color center
lasers, semiconductor lasers, liquid and solid-state dye lasers, inorganic liquid lasers, and
neutral atom, ionized, and molecular gas lasers. A separate section on "other" lasers which
have special operating configurations or properties includes x-ray lasers, free electron lasers,
nuclear-pumped lasers, lasers in nature, and lasers without inversion. Brief descriptions of
each type of laser are given followed by tables listing the lasing element or medium, host,
lasing transition and wavelength, operating properties, and primary literature citations.
Tuning ranges, when reported, are given for broadband lasers. The references are generally
those of the initial report of laser action; no attempt is made to follow the often voluminous
subsequent developments. For most types of lasers, lasing—light amplification by
stimulated emission of radiation—includes, for completeness, not only operation in a
resonant cavity but also single-pass gain or amplified spontaneous emission (ASE). Thus,
for example, there is a section on amplification of core-valence luminescence.

Because laser performance is dependent on the operating configurations and experimental
conditions used, output data are generally not included. The interested reader is advised to
retrieve details of the structures and operating conditions from the original reference (in many
cases information about the output and operating configuration is included in the title of the
paper that is included in the references). Performance and background information about
lasers in general and about specific types of lasers in particular can be obtained from the
books and articles listed under Further Reading in each section.

An extended table of contents is provided from which the reader should be able to locate
the section containing a laser of interest. Within each subsection, lasers are arranged
according to the elements in the periodic table or alphabetically by materials, and may be
further separated by operating technique (for example, in the case of semiconductor lasers,
injection, optically pumped, or electron beam pumped).

©2001 CRC Press LLC