DPSS Ruby Laser?
There are two major issues preventing a DPSS ruby laser from ever likely being anything more than a curiosity. The more fundamental one is that ruby is a three-level lasing medium and is virtually impossible to run Continuous Wave (CW), whether it’s pumped with arc lamps, high power laser diodes, or the Sun. There never were and will likely never will be any CW ruby lasers operating outside a research lab. See the section: CW Ruby Laser?. As a practical matter, the absorption bands of ruby (404 to 554 nm) do not match any currently available high power laser diodes, which are in the infra-red range – mostly around 808 nm and 980 nm. There are some relatively high power visible laser diodes but they are much more expensive and at 635 nm and longer wavelengths. Nichia violet and blue laser diodes cover 400 nm to beyond 440 nm but are low power and currently very expensive. Perhaps once violet or blue laser diodes are developed in high power versions, the pumping situation will change, bu
There are two major issues preventing a DPSS ruby laser from ever likely being anything more than a curiosity. The more fundamental one is that ruby is a three-level lasing medium and is virtually impossible to run Continuous Wave (CW), whether it’s pumped with arc lamps, high power laser diodes, or the Sun. There never were and will likely never will be any CW ruby lasers operating outside a research lab. See the section: CW Ruby Laser?. As a practical matter, the absorption bands of ruby (404 to 554 nm) do not match any currently available high power laser diodes, which are in the infra-red range – mostly around 808 nm and 980 nm. There are some relatively high power visible laser diodes but they are much more expensive and at 635 nm and longer wavelengths. Nichia violet and blue laser diodes cover 400 nm to beyond 440 nm but are low power and currently very expensive. Perhaps once violet or blue laser diodes are developed in high power versions, the pumping situation will change, bu
