Abstract

The d¹ electronic configuration of Ti³⁺ in sapphire has the following advantages as a tunable solid state material: high gain, broad tuning range, and lack of excited state absorption. The lack of excited state absorption is inherent for the d¹ configuration and promises low spectroscopic losses in other crystals doped with Ti³⁺. This makes Ti-doped systems very attractive as potential solid state laser media. The 300-nm range of Ti:sapphire limits its operation to the near-infrared range from 700 to 1000 nm. A desire to shift the range of the tunable solid state laser into the visible underlines our spectroscopic study of different Ti-dopant–crystalline host combinations. We conducted absorption, luminescence, and excitation measurements on different Ti-doped crystals including YAG, GSAG, YALO, and spinel. The results of our studies are compared with the spectroscopy of Ti:sapphire to identify d¹ features in other hosts. The potential for developing a new titanium-based laser system is discussed.

© 1986 Optical Society of America