Using the Crystal
Ti:sapphire crystals have an absorption band in the green region. Radiation of around 500 nm is absorbed most effectively, however due to high availability and lower cost, green lasers (515 nm or 532 nm) are used to pump the medium. The crystal can be effectively pumped by short pulse flashlamps in laser systems of high pulse energy or by a DPSS laser - in tunable continuous wave lasers and high repetition rate oscillators. Because of high saturation power, in case of DPSS laser pumping, the pump beam should be of high transversal beam quality, high temporal stability and preferably strongly focused. Recent studies have showed that diode pumping using a blue diode (445 nm) can also be used for making Ti:Sapphire oscillators. That is expected to raise the next generation of Ti:Sapphire lasers.

Features
● Large gain-bandwidth
● Very large emission bandwidth
● Excellent thermal conductivity
● Short upper-state lifetime (3.2 μs)
● High saturation power
● Relatively high laser cross-sections
● High damage threshold
● Strong Kerr effect

Applications
● Ultra-short pulse lasers
● High repetition rate oscillators
● Chirped-pulse laser amplifiers
● Multi-pass amplifiers
● Wavelength tunable CW lasers
● Pulsed X-ray generation

Download Ti:Sapphire white paper.