METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR PUMPING OF TRANSITION METAL ION CONTAINING SOLID STATE LASERS USING DIODE LASER SOURCES

摘要

The present invention encompasses an apparatus for pumping a vibronic laser, which comprises: a transition-metal ion-containing solid state vibronic laser gain medium (10); a means for exciting said laser medium to emit coherent radiation said exciting means being a pumping source comprising at least one laser diode (11/12) operating at a wavelength shorter than 750 nm; and an optical resonator means (17, 21) for generating and controlling said coherent radiation. The present invention also encompasses a method of pumping a vibronic laser comprising the steps of: generating a laser diode pumping beam (19/20) at a wavelength shorter than 750 nm; exciting a transition-metal ion-containing solid state vibronic laser gain medium by impinging said laser diode pumping beam (19/20) on said transition-metal ion-containing solid state laser gain medium (10), so as to excite the laser medium (10); and an optical resonator (17, 21) to emit coherent radiation.