High-Performance Solid-State Lasers: Fundamentals and Applications

Dear Colleagues,

The development of solid-state systems is a multidisciplinary effort and results from the interaction of specialists from many branches of science and engineering, such as spectroscopy, solid-state and laser physics, optical design, electronic and mechanical engineering.

Solid-state lasers (SSLs) meet the criteria for compact, easy-to-maintain, robust and fracture-resistant systems and are attractive sources of coherent radiation for a variety of applications. Although conventional high-power flash laser systems are still used for many applications, the new generation of SSL systems—diode-pumped lasers, fibre lasers, slab lasers, microchip and disk lasers—has inaugurated a new era due to the reduction in size and power consumption. SSL designs using single crystals are continuously improving. In synthesizing solid-state laser materials from polycrystalline ceramics, it is challenging to find an approach that can overcome the technological and economic problems of conventional single-crystal laser gain media, with one of its most significant advantages being the ease of achieving a composite structure. Recently, diode pumping has become more and more common and is expected to completely replace lamp pumping.

A special group of SSLs are semiconductor lasers and optical fibre lasers and amplifiers, which use specialised technologies and design principles. In addition to single SSLs, diode lasers are also used as pump sources for SSLs (DPSSLs). They are currently the most efficient type in converting electrical energy to optical energy, using the best materials for this purpose. Fibre lasers are widely used due to their ability to maintain high beam quality at high beam powers. In addition, they can be tuned over a wide range of wavelengths and are preferred to bulk lasers when unusual wavelengths are required and suitable crystals or glasses are not available.

A specific feature of SSLs is the possibility of obtaining a wide variety of operating modes and output parameters of laser radiation. This is the basis for the huge variety of different applications of SSLs: in industry, in material processing; as range finders, target illuminators and designators in military systems; in spectroscopy; in medical applications; in precision micromachining tasks; for optical data transmission and storage, in metrology; as a source for diode pumped lasers, etc. New challenges are related to new laser materials and laser architectures for their new applications.

Researchers are invited to submit their contributions to this Special Issue. Topics include, but are not limited to the following:

• Laser materials, structures and techniques for operation;
• Solid-state laser theory and modelling;
• Tunable lasers;
• Microchip lasers;
• SSLs for medical and healthcare applications (diagnostics, therapy, surgery, and dentistry);
• SSLs for defence and aerospace applications (remote sensing and imaging, targeting and ranging, and laser illuminators);
• SSLs for industrial and manufacturing applications (material processing and surface modification, display and electronics manufacturing, communication and data transmission, sensing, measurement and characterisation);
• SSLs for research and biophotonics applications (imaging and analysis, measurement and analysis, spectroscopy and analysis, pump lasers, seed lasers, and optical amplifiers);
• Micro- and nanoprocessing.

Prof. Dr. Margarita Deneva
Prof. Dr. Marin Nenchev
Dr. Maria Marinova
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Photonics is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• solid state lasers
• laser efficiency
• diode-pumped solid-state lasers
• laser theory and modelling
• nonlinear optics
• laser applications