Abstract

CW alexandrite laser technology, as compared to pulsed alexandrite laser technology, is still in its infancy. The physical and laser properties of alexandrite have been extensively reported elsewhere.^1,2 The parameter most germane to cw operation is the stimulated emission cross section-upper state lifetime product (0.7 × 10⁻²⁰ cm² × 262 μsec), which is 50-100 times smaller than in Nd:YAG, and roughly the same as in Ti:Sapphire. The low emission cross section and concomitant low gain make lamp-pumped cw operation of alexandrite challenging. In this paper we report on three areas of research: pump reflector design, rod quality characterization, and optical resonator design, which have led to improved performance of cw alexandrite lasers.

© 1989 Optical Society of America