Patent ID: 7522651

Claim:
A laser device comprising: an optical cavity including a set of passive optical elements; a laser element comprising a vibronic gain crystal disposed within the optical cavity; an excitation pump element having an odd number n of arrays of light emitting diodes (LEDs), where (1<n≦9) for generating excitation light at a surface optical flux of at least 10 W/cm 2 ; a diffusive reflecting pump chamber substantially tubular in shape into which is positioned the laser element such that the diffusive reflecting pump chamber effectively surrounds the laser element but for any end regions, wherein an inner surface of the pump chamber is coated with a diffusively reflective material thereby providing a diffusive reflection of pump light that strikes the inner surface sufficient to enable a multi-pass absorption of the excitation light by the laser element; n slot-shaped transmitting windows, evenly distributed around the perimeter of the pump chamber, whereby each transmitting window provides an entrance for a pump beam emitted from one of the LED arrays, wherein the slot-shaped windows are axially parallel to the laser element such that said pump light directly emitted from the LED array is either absorbed by the vibronic gain crystal or strikes the inner surface of the pump chamber, and a power supply, electrically connected to the said excitation pump element, thereby causing said excitation element to produce excitation light; wherein the vibronic gain crystal is a laser material in which the stimulated emission of photons is intimately coupled to the emission of vibrational quanta (phonons) in a crystal lattice.