The first demonstration of a laser employed ruby (trivalent chromium, a transition metal, doped in sapphire.) Subsequent development of other lasers led to a major revolution in the field of optics, impacting first science, then engineering and finally the technology of much of the modern, digital world. With the author's invention of the Ti:sapphire laser (trivalent titanium in sapphire) a new active ion found life in an old host crystal, one with especially favorable properties. The Ti:sapphire laser has found significant uses in science (three Nobel prizes to date) and in technology. In this talk we will review the developments in transition-metal-doped solid state lasers and show their impact in more detail.


Monday, July 5, 2010, 12:00. ICFO’s Auditorium