A light absorbing layer which is bonded to a laser medium to configure a bonded body, wherein the light absorbing layer is formed from a glass material and, in an oscillation wavelength (wavelength of 650 nm or more and less than 1400 nm) of the laser medium, an absorption coefficient is 0.1 to 10.0 cm.sup.?1, a difference in refractive index between the light absorbing layer and the laser medium is within ?0.1, and a difference in linear thermal expansion coefficient between the light absorbing layer and the laser medium is within ?1 ppm/K. The present invention relates to a light absorbing layer for preventing parasitic oscillation, and aims to provide a material capable of suppressing the manufacturing cost and which can be easily processed for preparing a bonded body.

A MOPA laser system that includes a seed laser configured to output pulsed laser light, an amplifier configured to receive and amplify the pulsed laser light emitted by the seed laser; and a pump laser configured to deliver a pump laser beam to both the seed laser and the amplifier and a variable attenuator configured to eliminate missing Q-switched pulses.

A MOPA laser system that includes a seed laser configured to output pulsed laser light, an amplifier configured to receive and amplify the pulsed laser light emitted by the seed laser; and a pump laser configured to deliver a pump laser beam to both the seed laser and the amplifier.

A lasing medium having a tailored dopant concentration and a method of fabrication thereof is disclosed. The lasing medium has a single crystal having a continuous body having a selected length, wherein the crystal comprises dopant distributed along the length of the body to define a dopant concentration profile. In one embodiment, the dopant concentration profile results in a uniform heating profile. A method of fabricating a laser crystal having a tailored dopant concentration profile includes arranging a plurality of polycrystalline segments together to form an ingot, the polycrystalline segments each having dopant distributed, providing a crystal seed at a first end of the ingot, and moving a heating element along the ingot starting from the first end to a second end of the ingot, the moving heating element creating a moving molten region within the ingot while passing therealong.

A method of performing spatial separation of different wavelengths in a single laser cavity includes generating, from a pump radiation source, pump radiations in spatially separate channels and focusing the generated pump radiations in the spatially separate channels towards an active gain medium having amplification spectra. The method also includes emitting from the active gain medium, amplified radiations of the spatially separate channels, each channel of the spatially separate channels representing a corresponding wavelength and focusing the emitted amplified radiations of the spatially separated channels towards an aperture. The method further includes suppressing, at the aperture, an off-axis mode of the amplified radiations of the spatially separate channels, diffracting the amplified radiations of the spatially separate channels received through the aperture to provide diffracted radiations and returning a portion of the diffracted radiations back to the aperture, and collimating the diffracted radiations of the spatially separate channel.

A joined body (10) includes an optical material (11) and a cooling material (12) that are capable of transmitting light and are joined together. At a joining interface between the optical material (11) and the cooling material (12), the joined body (10) is capable of transmitting light, and also an atom contained in the optical material (11) diffusively enters the cooling material (12) in such a degree that an interference fringe is not generated in the joined body (10). A diffusive entry length of an atom contained in the optical material (11) into the cooling material (12) may be in a range from approximately 1.0 nm to approximately 10 m.

A lasing medium having a tailored dopant concentration and a method of fabrication thereof is disclosed. The lasing medium has a single crystal having a continuous body having a selected length, wherein the crystal comprises dopant distributed along the length of the body to define a dopant concentration profile. In one embodiment, the dopant concentration profile results in a uniform heating profile. A method of fabricating a laser crystal having a tailored dopant concentration profile includes arranging a plurality of polycrystalline segments together to form an ingot, the polycrystalline segments each having dopant distributed, providing a crystal seed at a first end of the ingot, and moving a heating element along the ingot starting from the first end to a second end of the ingot, the moving heating element creating a moving molten region within the ingot while passing therealong.

A YAG ceramic bonded body in which a YAG ceramic and a YAG ceramic or optical glass are bonded, wherein the YAG ceramic bonded body comprises glass as a bonding layer, and has a rate of change of transmittance that is within 7%. An object of this invention is to provide a bonded body in which a YAG ceramic and a YAG ceramic are bonded, or a bonded body in which a YAG ceramic and optical glass are bonded, and which is capable of suppressing the reflection of light at the bonded interface, as well as the production method thereof.

A method of fabrication of laser gain material and utilization of such media includes the steps of introducing a transitional metal, preferably Cr.sup.2+ thin film of controllable thickness on the ZnS crystal facets after crystal growth by means of pulse laser deposition or plasma sputtering, thermal annealing of the crystals for effective thermal diffusion of the dopant into the crystal volume with a temperature and exposition time providing the highest concentration of the dopant in the volume without degrading laser performance due to scattering and concentration quenching, and formation of a microchip laser either by means of direct deposition of mirrors on flat and parallel polished facets of a thin Cr:ZnS wafer or by relying on the internal reflectance of such facets.

In one aspect, a composition of matter includes: a plurality of particles in a thixotropic suspension to form an ink, where the plurality of particles are present in an amount of at least about 20 vol %, and the plurality of particles include: a first host medium material containing at least one of: one or more lasing species dopants; and one or more other dopant species; and a second host medium material containing at least one other dopant species. The composition of matter further includes a liquid phase present in an amount greater than 20 vol % and less than about 80 vol %, where the liquid phase comprises at least one of: at least one surfactant; at least one polar organic solvent; and at least one binder.