Researchers Develop Chip-Size Titanium-Doped Sapphire Laser

A team of researchers has developed what is reportedly the first chip-scale titanium-doped sapphire laser — an innovation that could lead to new applications ranging from atomic clocks to quantum computing and spectroscopic sensors. The titanium-doped sapphire laser was a major advance in the field of lasers when it was introduced in the 1980s. Key to its success was the material used as its gain medium. Sapphire doped with titanium ions proved particularly powerful, providing a much wider laser emission bandwidth than traditional semiconductor lasers. The tabletop titanium-sapphire laser is a staple in many academic and industrial labs, although the large bandwidth comes at a high cost in terms of energy and floor space,...