Abstract :
A new laser consisting of a calcium fluoride host doped with divalent dysprosium is announced by RCA Laboratories. The new device reduces by ten times the amount of energy required by other lasers to generate powerful beams of infrared light. It is expected to be used in studies of coherent light beams for the usual purposes: missile defense, communications, and metallurgy. The new laser crystal emits light at low power, the emission is triggered by a stimulated to emit light at only one of the frequencies. Silvering both ends of the crystal, one partially and the other completely, causes most of the emitted light to reflect back and forth through the crystal, inducing still other electrons to emit. The cumulative effect brings about coherent energy radiating from the partially silvered end, more intense than light at the surface of the sun.
