Cr4+:YAG crystals Chromium Doped Yttrium AIuminum Garnet

Co2+:MgAl2O4 Cospinel is a relatively new material for passive Q-switching in lasers emitting from 1.2 to 1.6 μm, in particular, for eye-safe 1.54 μm Er:glass laser, but also works at 1.44 μm and 1.34 μm wavelengths. Spinel is a hard, stable crystal that polishes well. Cobalt substitutes readily for magnesium in the Spinel host without the need for additional charge compensation ions. High absorption cross section (3.5×10-19 cm2) permits Q-switching of Er:glass laser without intracavity focusing both with flash-lamp and diode-laser pumping. Negligible excited-state absorption results in high contrast of Q-switch, i.e. the ratio of initial (small signal) to saturated absorption is higher than 10.

Wedge prism is an optical element with plane-inclined surfaces, usually the faces are inclined toward one another at a very small angles.  It diverts light toward its thicker portion.  Wedge prisms can be used as isolating components. Wedges may also be used to produce a small deviation which doesnt allow return to source.

Longpass filters are ideal for a variety of applications, such as gas monitoring, temperature, sensing, thermal imaging and motion sensing, etc. Longpass filters block shorter wavelengths and transmit longer wavelengths. Blocking can be from reflectance, absorption or a combination. Transmission in the pass band can be enhanced with an antireflection coating on the second surface.

Optical domes are lenses with two concentric spherical surfaces. Sometimes they are being referred to as bent plan parallel plates. Consequently it is customary to define parallelism between two surfaces as the maximum thickness variation between the two surfaces.

Colored glass filters are optical components that control incident wavelength by distributing an optical absorbing substance in glass.

Laser Line Mirrors are used for beam-steering in demanding laser applications. Laser Line Mirrors are Optical Mirrors that have been designed for specific laser types or wavelengths.

α-BBO (α-BaB2O4) is a negative uniaxial crystal which has large birefringence over a broad transparent range of 190nm to 3500nm. α-BBO is an excellent crystal especially in UV and high power applications. The physical, chemical, thermal, and optical properties of alpha-BBO crystal are similar to those of Beta-BBO. However, there is no second order nonlinear effect in alpha-BBO crystal due to the centrosymmetry in its crystal structure and thus it has no use for second order nonlinear optical processes. Instead, alpha-BBO is widely used for fabrication of polarizers, polarizing beam displacers, phase retarders, birefringent plates, and time delay compensators especially those for UV and high power lasers.

Ti:Sapphire crystal is the most widely used tunable solid-state laser material combining the supreme physical and optical properties with the extremely broad lasing range. Its lasing bandwidth can support pulses < 10fs making it the crystal of choice for femtosecond mode-locked oscillators and amplifiers. The absorption band of Ti:Sapphire centers at ~ 490 nm so it may be conveniently pumped by various laser sources such as argon ion lasers or frequency doubled Nd:YAG, Nd:YLF, Nd:YVO4 lasers at ~530nm. Laser designers are using Ti:sapphire to generate femtosecond pulses to create new industrial tools. A properly delivered femtosecond laser pulse interacts within the target leaving the surrounding area undisturbed. Newly developed femtosecond pulsed lasers micro-machine complex fine structures in glass, metal and other materials. Active waveguides can be written below the surface, integrating optical devices within the body of a substrate. Defects in photomasks can be repaired without disturbing neighbouring patterns. And it is now possible to achieve cellular resolution in vivo for medical diagnosis with femtosecond pulse lasers.