High power laser and materials investigation

The concept of rare gas halide/solid state lasers was demonstrated by the lasing of Tm:YLF at 453nm pumped by the 353nm energy of XeF. Excited state densities of 5 x 10 to the 18th power/cu cm were attained and spectroscopic measurements show that up to 60% of the pump energy can be converted into useful stored energy. Alternative lasers and pumping schemes are also discussed. In all cases, the potential RGH/SS systems are evaluated in respect to internal efficiency and heat loading. Most of the studies of growth and growth scale-up of crystalline fluoride materials involved the host materials YLF (LiYF4) and KYF (KY3F10). Other materials described include KYF, KTb310 and EuF2.