US 7,548,571 B2
	Mid-IR microchip laser: ZnS:Cr2+ laser with saturable absorber material
Sergey B. Mirov, Vestavia Hills, Ala. (US); and Vladimir V. Federov, Vestavia Hills, Ala. (US)
Assigned to The UAB Research Foundation, Birmingham, Ala. (US)
Filed on May 27, 2005, as Appl. No. 11/140,271.
Application 11/140271 is a division of application No. 10/247272, filed on Sep. 19, 2002, granted, now 6,960,486.
Claims priority of provisional application 60/323551, filed on Sep. 20, 2001.
Prior Publication US 2005/0281301 A1, Dec. 22, 2005
Int. Cl. H01S 5/30 (2006.01); H01S 5/00 (2006.01)

U.S. Cl. 372—49.01

17 Claims

1. A laser utilizing a laser media comprising a crystal selected from the structures of MeZ and MeX2Z4, wherein Me is selected from the group consisting of Zn, Cd, Ca, Mg, Sr, Ba, Hg, and Pb; Z is selected from the group consisting of S, Se, Te, O and their mixtures: and X being selected from the group consisting of Ga, In, and Al; said crystal having a thin film layer of a transition metal on deposited on opposing faces of said crystal by a method selected from the group of pulsed laser deposition, cathode arc deposition, and plasma sputtering; wherein said crystal has undergone annealing in an oven for a period and at a temperature sufficient to allow crystal doping by transition metal diffusion and replacement in selected regions of said crystal; wherein said laser media has dichroic mirrors positioned on each face thereof, including an output mirror, and a continuous excitation source positioned to supply continuous wave excitation energy to said laser media to excite a continuous laser output.