Neodymium-YAG Laser

An example of a solid-state laser, the neodymium-YAG uses the Nd3+ ion to dope the yttrium-aluminum-garnet (YAG) host crystal to produce the triplet geometry which makes population inversion possible. Neodymium-YAG lasers have become very important because they can be used to produce high powers. Such lasers have been constructed to produce over a kilowatt of continuous laser power at 1065 nm and can achieve extremely high powers in a pulsed mode.

Neodymium-YAG lasers are used in pulse mode in laser oscillators for the production of a series of very short pulses for research with femtosecond time resolution.

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Boraiko
 
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Neodymium-Glass Lasers

Neodymium glass lasers have emerged as the design choice for research in laser-initiated thermonuclear fusion. These pulsed lasers generate pulses as short as 10-12 seconds with peak powers of 109 kilowatts.

Laser nuclear fusion
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Ohanian
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Ruby Laser

The ruby laser is the first type of laser actually constructed, first demonstrated in 1960 by T. H. Maiman. The ruby mineral (corundum) is aluminum oxide with a small amount (about 0.05%) of chromium which gives it its characteristic pink or red color by absorbing green and blue light.

The ruby laser is used as a pulsed laser, producing red light at 694.3 nm. After receiving a pumping flash from the flash tube, the laser light emerges for as long as the excited atoms persist in the ruby rod, which is typically about a millisecond.

A pulsed ruby laser was used for the famous laser ranging experiment which was conducted with a corner reflector placed on the Moon by the Apollo astronauts. This determined the distance to the Moon with an accuracy of about 15 cm.

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Ohanian
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Pumping Levels for Ruby Laser

Ruby laser discussion
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Ohanian
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Ruby Laser and Flash Tube

Ruby laser discussion
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Laser concepts

Laser types

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Ohanian
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