{"id":{"repo_id":"strathclyde","oai_identifier":"oai:strathclyde:zk51vg77m"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/strathclyde/oai:strathclyde:zk51vg77m","repository":{"repo_id":"strathclyde","name":"University of Strathclyde","base_url":"https://stax.strath.ac.uk/catalog/oai"},"display":{"title":"Directly diode-laser-pumped titanium-doped sapphire lasers","abstract":"Titanium-doped sapphire is one of the most versatile laser gain materials. Tunable between 0.7 m and 1.1 m and capable of generating femtosecond pulses, the Ti:sapphire laser has become an important tool for many applications. Its ubiquitous use across many scientific disciplines is increasingly complemented by commercial applications including imaging, spectroscopy, micro-processing of materials and the generation of terahertz radiation. However, today's Ti:sapphire lasers are complex, bulky and expensive, leaving many applications unaddressed, particularly where lower costs and smaller footprints are vital. The biggest hurdle to smaller and cheaper Ti:sapphire lasers is the pump light source - typically a frequency-doubled, multi-watt neodymium or optically pumped semiconductor laser. Ideally, such intricate and expensive pump lasers would be replaced by compact, robust and cheap diode lasers. Two factors have prevented this: first, Ti:sapphire has a broad but relatively weak absorption in the blue-green region of the spectrum where high-power diode lasers are not currently available; and second, the very short upper laser level lifetime of Ti:sapphire and relatively large parasitic losses result in a high intrinsic laser threshold. Combined, these factors strongly favour high-brightness pump sources. The recent progress in diode lasers based on gallium nitride materials now opens the way to challenge the perceived wisdom that Ti:sapphire cannot be diode-pumped. In this work diode-laser pumping of Ti:sapphire lasers has been shown to be possible. The world's first diode-laser-pumped Ti:sapphire laser has been developed, enabling drastic reductions in cost and size over current systems. Using innovative approaches to exploit gallium nitride diode lasers as the pump source, both continuous-wave operation and generation of femtosecond pulses have been demonstrated. As a result, some of the unrivalled performance of today's high-cost, lab-bound Ti:sapphire lasers may soon be available at a fraction of the current cost and footprint.","abstract_html":"Titanium-doped sapphire is one of the most versatile laser gain materials. Tunable between 0.7 m and 1.1 m and capable of generating femtosecond pulses, the Ti:sapphire laser has become an important tool for many applications. Its ubiquitous use across many scientific disciplines is increasingly complemented by commercial applications including imaging, spectroscopy, micro-processing of materials and the generation of terahertz radiation. However, today's Ti:sapphire lasers are complex, bulky and expensive, leaving many applications unaddressed, particularly where lower costs and smaller footprints are vital. The biggest hurdle to smaller and cheaper Ti:sapphire lasers is the pump light source - typically a frequency-doubled, multi-watt neodymium or optically pumped semiconductor laser. Ideally, such intricate and expensive pump lasers would be replaced by compact, robust and cheap diode lasers. Two factors have prevented this: first, Ti:sapphire has a broad but relatively weak absorption in the blue-green region of the spectrum where high-power diode lasers are not currently available; and second, the very short upper laser level lifetime of Ti:sapphire and relatively large parasitic losses result in a high intrinsic laser threshold. Combined, these factors strongly favour high-brightness pump sources. The recent progress in diode lasers based on gallium nitride materials now opens the way to challenge the perceived wisdom that Ti:sapphire cannot be diode-pumped. In this work diode-laser pumping of Ti:sapphire lasers has been shown to be possible. The world's first diode-laser-pumped Ti:sapphire laser has been developed, enabling drastic reductions in cost and size over current systems. Using innovative approaches to exploit gallium nitride diode lasers as the pump source, both continuous-wave operation and generation of femtosecond pulses have been demonstrated. As a result, some of the unrivalled performance of today's high-cost, lab-bound Ti:sapphire lasers may soon be available at a fraction of the current cost and footprint.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Roth, Peter"],"institution":"University of Strathclyde","degree_name":"phd","degree_level":"doctoral-pg","degree_discipline":null,"degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2012,"date_issued":"2012","date_published":"2012","updated_at":"2026-07-24T04:50:56Z","subjects":[],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier.doi","label":"DOI","values":["10.48730/h07f-e490"],"render_values":[{"text":"10.48730/h07f-e490","href":"https://doi.org/10.48730/h07f-e490","code":true}]},{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["T13225"],"render_values":[{"text":"T13225","href":null,"code":true}]}]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://stax.strath.ac.uk/concern/theses/zk51vg77m","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier.uri"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Roth, Peter"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date","label":"Dc Date","values":["2012"]},{"key":"dc:date.issued","label":"Date","values":["2012"]},{"key":"dc:publisher.department","label":"Dc Publisher Department","values":["Department of Physics"]},{"key":"dc:publisher.institution","label":"Dc Publisher Institution","values":["University of Strathclyde"]},{"key":"dc:type.qualificationlevel","label":"Dc Type Qualificationlevel","values":["doctoral-pg"]},{"key":"dc:type.qualificationname","label":"Dc Type Qualificationname","values":["phd"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["T13225"]},{"key":"dc:identifier.doi","label":"DOI","values":["10.48730/h07f-e490"]},{"key":"dc:identifier.uri","label":"Identifier URI","values":["https://stax.strath.ac.uk/concern/theses/zk51vg77m"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description","label":"Description","values":["Titanium-doped sapphire is one of the most versatile laser gain materials. Tunable between 0.7 m and 1.1 m and capable of generating femtosecond pulses, the Ti:sapphire laser has become an important tool for many applications. Its ubiquitous use across many scientific disciplines is increasingly complemented by commercial applications including imaging, spectroscopy, micro-processing of materials and the generation of terahertz radiation. However, today's Ti:sapphire lasers are complex, bulky and expensive, leaving many applications unaddressed, particularly where lower costs and smaller footprints are vital. The biggest hurdle to smaller and cheaper Ti:sapphire lasers is the pump light source - typically a frequency-doubled, multi-watt neodymium or optically pumped semiconductor laser. Ideally, such intricate and expensive pump lasers would be replaced by compact, robust and cheap diode lasers. Two factors have prevented this: first, Ti:sapphire has a broad but relatively weak absorption in the blue-green region of the spectrum where high-power diode lasers are not currently available; and second, the very short upper laser level lifetime of Ti:sapphire and relatively large parasitic losses result in a high intrinsic laser threshold. Combined, these factors strongly favour high-brightness pump sources. The recent progress in diode lasers based on gallium nitride materials now opens the way to challenge the perceived wisdom that Ti:sapphire cannot be diode-pumped. In this work diode-laser pumping of Ti:sapphire lasers has been shown to be possible. The world's first diode-laser-pumped Ti:sapphire laser has been developed, enabling drastic reductions in cost and size over current systems. Using innovative approaches to exploit gallium nitride diode lasers as the pump source, both continuous-wave operation and generation of femtosecond pulses have been demonstrated. As a result, some of the unrivalled performance of today's high-cost, lab-bound Ti:sapphire lasers may soon be available at a fraction of the current cost and footprint."]},{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["Titanium-doped sapphire is one of the most versatile laser gain materials. Tunable between 0.7 m and 1.1 m and capable of generating femtosecond pulses, the Ti:sapphire laser has become an important tool for many applications. Its ubiquitous use across many scientific disciplines is increasingly complemented by commercial applications including imaging, spectroscopy, micro-processing of materials and the generation of terahertz radiation. However, today's Ti:sapphire lasers are complex, bulky and expensive, leaving many applications unaddressed, particularly where lower costs and smaller footprints are vital. The biggest hurdle to smaller and cheaper Ti:sapphire lasers is the pump light source - typically a frequency-doubled, multi-watt neodymium or optically pumped semiconductor laser. Ideally, such intricate and expensive pump lasers would be replaced by compact, robust and cheap diode lasers. Two factors have prevented this: first, Ti:sapphire has a broad but relatively weak absorption in the blue-green region of the spectrum where high-power diode lasers are not currently available; and second, the very short upper laser level lifetime of Ti:sapphire and relatively large parasitic losses result in a high intrinsic laser threshold. Combined, these factors strongly favour high-brightness pump sources. The recent progress in diode lasers based on gallium nitride materials now opens the way to challenge the perceived wisdom that Ti:sapphire cannot be diode-pumped. In this work diode-laser pumping of Ti:sapphire lasers has been shown to be possible. The world's first diode-laser-pumped Ti:sapphire laser has been developed, enabling drastic reductions in cost and size over current systems. Using innovative approaches to exploit gallium nitride diode lasers as the pump source, both continuous-wave operation and generation of femtosecond pulses have been demonstrated. As a result, some of the unrivalled performance of today's high-cost, lab-bound Ti:sapphire lasers may soon be available at a fraction of the current cost and footprint."]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Directly diode-laser-pumped titanium-doped sapphire lasers"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:creator":["Roth, Peter"],"dc:date":["2012"],"dc:date.issued":["2012"],"dc:description":["Titanium-doped sapphire is one of the most versatile laser gain materials. Tunable between 0.7 m and 1.1 m and capable of generating femtosecond pulses, the Ti:sapphire laser has become an important tool for many applications. Its ubiquitous use across many scientific disciplines is increasingly complemented by commercial applications including imaging, spectroscopy, micro-processing of materials and the generation of terahertz radiation. However, today's Ti:sapphire lasers are complex, bulky and expensive, leaving many applications unaddressed, particularly where lower costs and smaller footprints are vital. The biggest hurdle to smaller and cheaper Ti:sapphire lasers is the pump light source - typically a frequency-doubled, multi-watt neodymium or optically pumped semiconductor laser. Ideally, such intricate and expensive pump lasers would be replaced by compact, robust and cheap diode lasers. Two factors have prevented this: first, Ti:sapphire has a broad but relatively weak absorption in the blue-green region of the spectrum where high-power diode lasers are not currently available; and second, the very short upper laser level lifetime of Ti:sapphire and relatively large parasitic losses result in a high intrinsic laser threshold. Combined, these factors strongly favour high-brightness pump sources. The recent progress in diode lasers based on gallium nitride materials now opens the way to challenge the perceived wisdom that Ti:sapphire cannot be diode-pumped. In this work diode-laser pumping of Ti:sapphire lasers has been shown to be possible. The world's first diode-laser-pumped Ti:sapphire laser has been developed, enabling drastic reductions in cost and size over current systems. Using innovative approaches to exploit gallium nitride diode lasers as the pump source, both continuous-wave operation and generation of femtosecond pulses have been demonstrated. As a result, some of the unrivalled performance of today's high-cost, lab-bound Ti:sapphire lasers may soon be available at a fraction of the current cost and footprint."],"dc:description.abstract":["Titanium-doped sapphire is one of the most versatile laser gain materials. Tunable between 0.7 m and 1.1 m and capable of generating femtosecond pulses, the Ti:sapphire laser has become an important tool for many applications. Its ubiquitous use across many scientific disciplines is increasingly complemented by commercial applications including imaging, spectroscopy, micro-processing of materials and the generation of terahertz radiation. However, today's Ti:sapphire lasers are complex, bulky and expensive, leaving many applications unaddressed, particularly where lower costs and smaller footprints are vital. The biggest hurdle to smaller and cheaper Ti:sapphire lasers is the pump light source - typically a frequency-doubled, multi-watt neodymium or optically pumped semiconductor laser. Ideally, such intricate and expensive pump lasers would be replaced by compact, robust and cheap diode lasers. Two factors have prevented this: first, Ti:sapphire has a broad but relatively weak absorption in the blue-green region of the spectrum where high-power diode lasers are not currently available; and second, the very short upper laser level lifetime of Ti:sapphire and relatively large parasitic losses result in a high intrinsic laser threshold. Combined, these factors strongly favour high-brightness pump sources. The recent progress in diode lasers based on gallium nitride materials now opens the way to challenge the perceived wisdom that Ti:sapphire cannot be diode-pumped. In this work diode-laser pumping of Ti:sapphire lasers has been shown to be possible. The world's first diode-laser-pumped Ti:sapphire laser has been developed, enabling drastic reductions in cost and size over current systems. Using innovative approaches to exploit gallium nitride diode lasers as the pump source, both continuous-wave operation and generation of femtosecond pulses have been demonstrated. As a result, some of the unrivalled performance of today's high-cost, lab-bound Ti:sapphire lasers may soon be available at a fraction of the current cost and footprint."],"dc:identifier":["T13225"],"dc:identifier.doi":["10.48730/h07f-e490"],"dc:identifier.uri":["https://stax.strath.ac.uk/concern/theses/zk51vg77m"],"dc:publisher.department":["Department of Physics"],"dc:publisher.institution":["University of Strathclyde"],"dc:title":["Directly diode-laser-pumped titanium-doped sapphire lasers"],"dc:type.qualificationlevel":["doctoral-pg"],"dc:type.qualificationname":["phd"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T04:50:56Z"}