Abstract: An optically pumped laser oscillator or amplifier includes a laser head having a gain medium exhibiting polarization-dependent absorption along two crystallographic axes and a pump source producing a pump beam. The medium's absorption coefficients along both said crystallographic axes are equal or the difference between the absorption coefficients relative to the lowest absorption coefficients R=Abs(?c??a)/(min(?c, ?a)) is reduced at least by a factor of two compared to the same relative difference between the two absorption coefficients at the medium's absorption peaks, used for conventional pumping by pumping with unpolarized or partially polarized pump light at a wavelength around which the average absorption coefficients along both of said crystallographic axes are equal or present a relative difference that is reduced by a factor of two or better compared to conventional pumping around the medium's absorption peaks.

Abstract: An optically pumped laser oscillator or amplifier includes a laser head having a gain medium exhibiting polarization-dependent absorption along two crystallographic axes and a pump source producing a pump beam. The medium's absorption coefficients along both said crystallographic axes are equal or the difference between the absorption coefficients relative to the lowest absorption coefficients R=Abs(?c-?a)/(min(?c, ?a)) is reduced at least by a factor of two compared to the same relative difference between the two absorption coefficients at the medium's absorption peaks, used for conventional pumping by pumping with unpolarized or partially polarized pump light at a wavelength around which the average absorption coefficients along both of said crystal-lographic axes are equal or present a relative difference that is reduced by a factor of two or better compared to conventional pumping around the medium's absorption peaks.

Abstract: An optically pumped laser oscillator or amplifier including a laser head including a gain medium exhibiting polarization-dependent absorption along two crystallographic axes and a pump source producing a pump beam. The medium's absorption coefficients along both of the crystallographic axes are equal or the difference between the absorption coefficients relative to the lowest absorption coefficients is reduced at least by a factor of two compared to the same relative difference between the two absorption coefficients at the medium's absorption peaks. In some embodiments, the gain medium is a crystal, e.g., a Neodymium-doped Vanadate (Nd:YVO4) crystal, greater than 15 mm. In various embodiments, the optically pumped laser oscillator or amplifier includes two pump sources producing two pump beams.

Abstract: To optimise the transformation rate (efficiency) in the optical frequency conversion of laser beams of ultra-short light pulses in optically non-linear media such as a crystal (56), a double refracting crystal (54) is arranged in the beam path before the optically non-linear medium (56). The length of the double refracting crystal (54) is selected and the orientation of its optical crystal axis in relation to the propagation direction of the laser beams involved in the frequency conversion is set such that the change caused by the double refracting crystal (54) in the location, time and direction of incidence of the laser pulses (14) and (16) on the optically non-linear medium (56) and the resulting change in the spatial and temporal overlap of the laser pulses in the optically non-linear medium (56) for optical frequency conversion in the crystal (56) give a conversion efficiency which is higher than the conversion efficiency which would be achieved without the double refracting crystal (54).

Abstract: A device for the optical excitation of laser-active crystals with a diode laser (1) is disclosed. The diode laser (1) generates pump radiation (2), and the laser-active crystal (14) is arranged in a solid-state laser or solid-state laser amplifier. The laser-active crystal (14) has an axis (C) with strong absorption and an axis (A) with weak absorption. The pump radiation (2) from the diode laser (1) is substantially polarised linearly in a privileged polarisation direction. The device is configured in such a way that the pump radiation (2) is injected into the laser-active crystal (14) with a polarisation direction which is oriented parallel to the weak-absorption axis (A). The polarisation of the pump radiation in the vicinity of the laser-active crystal is oriented parallel relative to the weak-absorption axis.

Abstract: A device for the optical excitation of laser-active crystals with a diode laser (1) is disclosed. The diode laser (1) generates pump radiation (2), and the laser-active crystal (14) is arranged in a solid-state laser or solid-state laser amplifier. The laser-active crystal (14) has an axis (C) with strong absorption and an axis (A) with weak absorption. The pump radiation (2) from the diode laser (1) is substantially polarised linearly in a privileged polarisation direction. The device is configured in such a way that the pump radiation (2) is injected into the laser-active crystal (14) with a polarisation direction which is oriented parallel to the weak-absorption axis (A). The polarisation of the pump radiation in the vicinity of the laser-active crystal is oriented parallel relative to the weak-absorption axis.

Abstract: In a device to generate laser light, with a laser-active main resonator (2) and a coupled non-linear resonator (6), each of the two resonators (2, 6) being delimited by mirrors (8, 4; 4, 10), and one mirror (4) of the main resonator (2) being identical to a mirror (4) of the coupled non-linear resonator (6), it is provided that the non-linear resonator (6) is designed for a power loss less than 63% of the power which is coupled via the main resonator (2) and the mirror which delimits the coupled non-linear resonator (6), and the laser-active main resonator is designed so that in laser operation it has a threshold pump power which is less than one fifth, preferably less than one tenth, of the pump power which is used and using which this resonator is excited.

Abstract: An optically pumped laser oscillator or amplified, comprising: a laser head including a gain medium exhibiting polarization-dependent absorption along two crystallographic axes; a pump source producing a pump beam wherein the medium's absorption coefficients along both said crystallographic axes are equal or the difference between the absorption coefficients relative to the lowest absorption coefficients R=Abs(&agr;c−&agr;a)/(min(&agr;c,&agr;a)) is reduced at least by a factor of two compared to the same relative difference between the two absorption coefficients at the medium's absorption peaks, used for conventional pumping either by pumping with unpolarized or partially polarized pump light at a wavelength around which the average absorption coefficients along both of said crystallographic axes are equal or present a relative difference that is reduced by a factor of two or better compared to conventional pumping around the medium's absorption peaks or by pumping with a combination of two pump

Abstract: To optimise the transformation rate (efficiency) in the optical frequency conversion of laser beams of ultra-short light pulses in optically non-linear media such as a crystal (56), a double refracting crystal (54) is arranged in the beam path before the optically non-linear medium (56). The length of the double refracting crystal (54) is selected and the orientation of its optical crystal axis in relation to the propagation direction of the laser beams involved in the frequency conversion is set such that the change caused by the double refracting crystal (54) in the location, time and direction of incidence of the laser pulses (14) and (16) on the optically non-linear medium (56) and the resulting change in the spatial and temporal overlap of the laser pulses in the optically non-linear medium (56) for optical frequency conversion in the crystal (56) give a conversion efficiency which is higher than the conversion efficiency which would be achieved without the double refracting crystal (54).

Abstract: In a device to generate laser light, with a laser-active main resonator (2) and a coupled non-linear resonator (6), each of the two resonators (2, 6) being delimited by mirrors (8, 4; 4, 10), and one mirror (4) of the main resonator (2) being identical to a mirror (4) of the coupled non-linear resonator (6), it is provided that the non-linear resonator (6) is designed for a power loss less than 63% of the power which is coupled via the main resonator (2) and the mirror which delimits the coupled non-linear resonator (6), and the laser-active main resonator is designed so that in laser operation it has a threshold pump power which is less than one fifth, preferably less than one tenth, of the pump power which is used and using which this resonator is excited.

Abstract: In a process and an apparatus for generating at least three light bundles of different wavelength for displaying color images, one of these light bundles having a longest wavelength and another of the light bundles having a shortest wavelength, which light bundles are obtained by an OPO and further nonlinear optical component elements from a signal beam and/or idler beam of the OPO and/or a primary light bundle, from which a beam exciting the OPO is also derived, it is provided that at least a partial light bundle is separated from the primary light bundle for exciting the OPO, in that the light bundle with the longest wavelength and the light bundle with the shortest wavelength are obtained from the signal beam and/or idler beam of the OPO by way of frequency multiplication and/or frequency mixing with another partial light bundle of the primary light bundle by excluding components of light bundles other than the generated light bundles with the shortest and longest wavelengths for image display.