Stimulated Optical Emission in Fluorescent Solids. I. Theoretical Considerations

Alexandra Rapaport

Theodore H. Maiman

An analysis of stimulated emission processes in fluorescent solids is presented. The kinetic equations are discussed and expressions for pumping power and effective temperature of the exciting source are given in terms of the material parameters. A comparison of excitation intensity for three- and four-level systems is given. The spectral width of the stimulated radiation is discussed with particular attention to imperfect crystals.

D.J. Morantz, B. G. White, A. J. C. Wright

Theodore H. Maiman, R. H. Hoskins, I. J. D’Haenens +2 more

Optical absorption cross sections and the fluorescent quantum efficiency in ruby have been determined. This data has been used to correlate calculations with the analysis of the preceding paper. Stimulated emission from ruby under pulsed excitation has been studied in some detail; the observations are found to depend strongly on the perfection of the particular crystal under study. A peak power output of approximately 5 kw, total output energy of near 1 joule, beam collimation of less than ${10}^{\ensuremath{-}2}$ rad, and a spectral width of individual components in the output radiation of about 6\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}${10}^{\ensuremath{-}4}$A at 6943 A have been measured. It is suggested that mode instabilities due to temperature shifts and a time-varying magnetic field are contributing to an oscillatory behavior of the output pulse.

E. V. Baklanov, B Ya Dubetskiĭ, Семибаламут Владимир Михайлович

Dominik Wildanger, Brian Patton, H. Schill +8 more

Exploring the maximum spatial resolution achievable in far-field optical imaging, we show that applying solid immersion lenses (SIL) in stimulated emission depletion (STED) microscopy addresses single spins with a resolution down to 2.4 ± 0.3 nm and with a localization precision of 0.09 nm.