Solid-state laser

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A solid-state laser is a laser that uses a gain medium that is a solid, rather than a liquid such as dye lasers or a gas such as gas lasers. Semiconductor-based lasers are also in the solid state, but are generally considered separately from solid-state lasers (see semiconductor laser).

Generally, the medium will consist of a glass or crystalline host material to which is added a dopant such as neodymium, chromium, erbium, or other ions. Many of the common dopants are rare earth elements.

There are many hundreds of solid-state media in which laser action has been achieved, but relatively few types are in widespread use. Of these, probably the most common type is neodymium doped YAG. Neodymium glass (Nd:glass) solid-state lasers are used in extremely high power (terawatt scale), high energy (megajoules) multiple beam systems for inertial confinement fusion. Titanium doped sapphire is also widely used for its broad tunability.