Crystalline Lasers (PDF)

Alexander A. Kaminskii received his first (PhD) and second doctor degrees and a full professor diploma in solid-state physics from the Institute of Crystallography of the Russian Academy of Sciences in 1965, 1974 and 1981, respectively. Three years prior to and after graduation he worked as a junior scientist on the development
of long-wave ruby lasers in the physics department of Moscow State University. In 1961 he joined the quantum electronics laboratory at the Nuclear Physics Institute of Moscow State University headed by Nobel Prize Laureate Professor Alexander M. Prokhorov. Here he began his long and continued basic research on the physics and spectroscopy of rare-earth doped insulating laser crystals. In 1965 he joined the Institute of Crystallography of the Russian Academy of Sciences, where he is currently head of the laser crystal physics laboratory. Dr. Kaminskii's main interests have been concentrated on the search for and the investigation of new generating compounds and the development of new principles and operating schemes for crystalline lasers. He has discovered stimulated emission in more than one-half of all known laser crystals. Among these are many of the more commonly used laser crystals, numerous garnets, disordered fluoride and oxide compounds, families of praseodymium and ytterbium crystals, and several nonlinear compounds for self-frequency doubled and self-stimulated Raman scattering lasers. He has also proposed and developed many new operating schemes for crystalline lasers. Dr. Kaminskii introduced the physical background and pioneered the technique of stimlated-emission spectroscopy of activated crystals. He has authored more than 500 scientific publications on these subjects, including more than 40 review articles and 4 monographs. In 1993 Dr. Kaminskii was the recipient of the Rozhdestvensky Award in optics from the Russian Academy of Sciences. In 1994 he received research prizes for senior scientists in solid-state physics and