In recent years there has been renewed interest in the scientific and indu strial communities in tunable solid state vibronic lasers. Much of this has been spurred by the user desirous of obtaining compact primary laser sources (independent of nonlinear optical frequency shifts) throughout the visible and near infra-red spectral regi ons. To further motivate and stimul ate re search and development in this area, workshops sponsored by the Laser Divi sion of the US ArmY Night Vision Electro-Optics Laboratory (NVEOL) at Fort Belvoir, Virginia were held during 1-3 April 1981 and 16-17 June 1983 at Keystone and NVEOL, respectively. The consensus of opinion of the partici pants at these workshops was that any successful program leading to the iden tification and development of vibronic tunable laser materials in the visible and IR must include coordinated activity between crystal growers, theoreti cal and experimental investigators into the fundamental processes of vibro nic lasing, and laser device engineers. Continued interaction between govern ment, industry, and academia was encouraged in order to establish a unified approach to these areas and, when necessary, redefine and redirect program matic activity. The organization of this 1st Annual Conference on Tunable Solid State La sers held at the La Jolla Institute 13-15 June 1984, was based around the latest results in tunable vibronic materials and laser development, but structured ina manner consi stent wi th the recommendati ons of the NVEOL workshops.

Inhalt
I Operational Vibronic Lasers/Advanced Design and Applications.- Recent Advances in Transition-Metal-Doped Lasers.- Laser Action in Cr-Doped Garnets and Tungstates.- Optical and Lasing Properties of Cr3+,Co2+,Ni2+ and V2+ Doped Perovskites.- Recent Progress in High Repetition Rate High Power, Line-Narrowed Alexandrite Laser.- Alexandrite Laser Systems: Scaling to Kilowatt Powers.- An Overview of NASA Requirements for Tunable Solid State Laser Systems and Technology.- Laser Transmitters for Meteorological Lidar: NTAL Program.- II Vibronic Laser Materials Spectroscopy.- Recent Results on the Spectroscopy of Transition Metal Ions for Tunable Solid State Lasers.- Measurements of Ti3+:Al2O3 as a Lasing Material.- Stimulated Emission from Flashpumped Ti:Al2O3.- Laser Pumped Single Pass Gain.- Trivalent Cerium Doped Crystals as Tunable Laser Systems: Two Bad Apples.- Cuprous Ion Doped Crystals for Tunable Lasers.- III Vibronic Laser Materials Growth.- Transition Metals in Oxide Hosts.- Growth of Crystals for Solid State Lasers.- Growth of Fluoride Laser Host Crystals.- Growth of Co:MgF2 and Ti:Al2O3 Crystals for Solid State Laser Applications.- The Laser-Heated Pedestal Growth Method: A Powerful Tool in the Search for New High Performance Laser Crystals.- IV Vibronic Laser Theory and Cross-Fertilization Through Interdisciplinary Fields.- Energy Transfer in Vibronic Laser Materials.- Theory of Fluorescence Quenching in Low-Field Chromium Complexes in Solids.- Theoretical Methods for the Study of Transition Metals in Crystals.- Cu+ in Alkali Halides: Model Systems for Understanding Ions in Crystals.- Electron-Phonon Interaction and Defect Processes in Laser Materials.- Post Conference Contribution Laser Action of H3 Color Center in Diamond.- Index of Contributors.