Titanium-doped sapphire laser research and design study

Abstract

Three main topics were considered in this study: the fundamental laser parameters of titanium-doped sapphire, characterization of commercially grown material, and design of a tunable, narrow-linewidth laser. Fundamental parameters investigated included the gain cross section, upper-state lifetime as a function of temperature and the surface-damage threshold. Commercial material was found to vary widely in the level of absorption of the laser wavelength with the highest absorption in Czochralski-grown crystals. Several Yi:sapphire lasers were constructed, including a multimode laser with greater than 50mJ of output energy and a single-transverse-mode ring laser, whose spectral and temporal characteristics were completely characterized. A design for a narrow-linewidth (single-frequency) Ti:sapphire laser was developed, based on the results of the experimental work. The design involves the use of a single-frequency, quasi-cw master oscillator, employed as an injection source for a pulsed ring laser.