Ruby laser

Ruby laser (Earliest solid-state laser)

Fig. 14 Schematic of a ruby laser. Capacitor bank is a cabinet containing many capacitors in parallel.  The resultant capacitance could be as large as a Farad.

· The first laser invented (in 1960).

         · Pump source: flash lamp.

         · Classic 3-level laser.

         ·  Very low repetition rate ~1 pulse/min.  Since its repetition rate is so slow, nobody wants to use this type of laser these days.

         · Laser wavelength 694.3 nm, pulse width ~ 10^-8 sec.