Physics of laser crystals has been constantly developing since the invention of the laser in 1960. Nowadays, more than 1500 wide-band-gap and semiconductors crystals are suitable for the production of the laser effect. Different laser devices are widely used in science, medicine and communication systems according to the progress achieved in the development of laser crystal physics. Scintillators for radiation detection also gained benefit from these developments. Most of the optically active materials offer laser radiations within the 500 to 3000 nm region with various quantum efficiency which fit the usual applications. However, new crystals for laser emissions are needed either in the blue, UV and VUV - region or far IR- region, especially for medicine, computer microchip production and for undiscovered practical uses. Scientific problems of the growth and properties of laser crystals are discussed in numerous books and scientific journals by many scientists working in the field. Therefore, we thought that joint discussions of the scientific and technical problems in laser physics will be useful for further developments in this area. We have proposed to held a Workshop on Physics of Laser Crystals for attempting to induce additional advances especially in solid state spectroscopy. This NATO Advanced Research Workshop (ARW) was hold in Kharkiv • Stary Saltov th nd (Ukraine) on august 26 - September 2 , 2002, and was mainly devoted to the consideration 0 f modem approaches and Iast results in physics of laser crystals.

This convenient source of reference analyzes spectro-physical properties in activated insulating laser crystals and systematizes mechanisms for obtaining stimulated emission based on these properties. Tabulations of the most important spectroscopic and pumping parameter data for insulating laser materials and the wavelengths of stimulated emission from activated insulating laser crystals permit selection of the active medium for a specific application. In addition, the book discusses the fundamental properties responsible for laser phenomena in activated crystals and a number of spectroscopic methods devised to investigate these processes. Thus it can also serve as an introduction to the physics of laser crystals and to the stimulated emission spectroscopy of activated crystals. The second edition contains updated data in the tables and more recent literature references.

Explains the mutual influences between the physical and dynamic processes in solids and their lasing properties. This book provides insight into the physics and engineering of solid state lasers by integrating information from several disciplines, including solid state physics, materials science, photophysics, and dynamic processes in solids.

The great interest in photonic crystals and their applications in the last 15 years is being expressed in the publishing of a large number of monographs, collections, textbooks and tutorials, where existing knowledge concerning - eration principles of photonic crystal devices and microstructured ?bers, their mathematicaldescription,well-knownandnovelapplicationsofsuchtechno- gies in photonics and optical communications are presented. They challenges authors of new books to cover the gaps still existing in the literature and highlight and popularize of already known material in a new and original manner. Authorsofthisbookbelievethatthenextsteptowardswideapplicationof photoniccrystalsisthesolutionofmanypracticalproblemsofdesignandc- putation of the speci?c photonic crystal-based devices aimed at the speci?c technicalapplication.Inordertomakethisstep,itisnecessarytoincreasethe number of practitioners who can solve such problems independently. The aim of this book is to extend the group of researchers, developers and students, who could practically use the knowledge on the physics of photonic crystals together with the knowledge and skills of independent calculation of basic characteristics of photonic crystals and modeling of various elements of - tegrated circuits and optical communication systems created on the basis of photonic crystals. The book is intended for quali?ed readers, specialists in the ?eld of optics and photonics, students of higher courses, master degree students and PhD students. As an introduction to the snopest, the book contains the basics of wave optics and radiation propagation in simple guiding media such as planar waveguides and step-index ?bers.

It was a greatest pleasure for me to learn that Springer-Verlag wished to produce a second edition of my book. In this connection, Dr. H. Lotsch asked me to send hirn a list of misprints, mistakes, and inaccuracies that had been noticed in the first edition and to make corresponding corrections without disturbing the layout or the typo graphy too much. I accepted this opportunity with alacrity and, moreover, found some free places in the text where I was able to insert some concise, up-to-date information about new lasing compounds and stimulated emission channels. It was also possible to increase the number of reference citations. The reader of the second edition hence has access to more complete data on insulating laser crystals. However, sections on laser-crystal physics have not been updated, because a satisfactory de scription of the progress made in the last ten years in this field would have required the sections to be extended enormously or even a new book to be written. Moscow, July 1989 ALEXANDER A. KAMINSKII Preface to the First Edition The greatest reward for an author is the feeling of satisfaction he gets when it becomes c1ear to hirn that readers find his work useful. After my book appeared in the USSR in 1975 I received many letters from fellow physicists inc1uding colleagues from Western European countries and the USA.

By the end of the 1970s, crystalline lasers were widely used in science, engineering, medicine, and technology. The types of lasers used have continued to grow in number to include newly discovered crystalline hosts, previously known compounds generating at other spectral wavelengths, and broadband tunable stimulated emission. This has led to the creation of an extremely promising new generation of crystalline lasers that are both highly efficient and more reliable. The major part of this book is devoted to describing multilevel operating laser schemes for stimulated emission excitation in insulating crystals doped with lanthanide ions. The first part of Crystalline Lasers deals with the history of the physics and spectroscopy of insulating laser crystals. The chapters in the second part of the book present results from the study of Stark-energy levels of generating ions in laser crystals and their radiative and nonradiative intermanifold transition characteristics. This section includes extensive tabular data and reference information. Popular and novel operating schemes of crystalline lasers are covered in Part 3. In the chapters in the fourth part of the book, the newest technologies in the physics and engineering of crystalline lasers are considered. The results of investigations into laser action under selective excitations, miniature crystalline lasers, and the properties of nonlinear activated laser crystals are presented and analyzed. Crystalline Lasers summarizes and reviews the results of many years of research and studies of activator ions and multilevel operating laser schemes, and discusses exciting prospects of using these systems to create new types of crystalline lasers. This book will be of use to laser scientists and engineers, physicists, and chemical engineers.

The greatest reward for an author is the feeling of satisfaction he gets when it becomes clear to him that readers find his work useful. After my book appeared in the USSR in 1975 I received many letters from fellow physicists including colleagues from Western European countries and the USA. Some of those letters, as well as official reviews of the book, made specific sug gestions for improving the book. The satisfaction I derived from all those kind and warm responses gave me the determination to continue work on the book in order to fulfill these wishes in the next edition. This possibility arose when one of the scientific editors from Springer-Verlag, Heidelberg, H. Latsch, who is the founder of the well-known series of quasi-monographs "Topics in Applied Physics", visited our Institute and suggested an English edition of my book. For all this, and for his subsequent help, I am sincerely thankful. I consider it my pleasant duty also to express my gratitude to the American physicist H. F. Ivey, who served as scientific editor of the trans lation. The English version of the book retains the structure of the Russian edition, though it is supplemented with many new data in the tables and figures. It reflects trends in the development of the physics and spectroscopy of laser crystals in recent years.