Titanium-doped sapphire (Ti:sapphire, Ti:Sa or ^Ti3+:_Al2O3) is the most commonly used laser material when it comes to realizing ultrashort pulse lasers (fs) or systems with tunable wavelengths. The crystals are grown using Czochralsky and Ciropolous methods. A spectrum of 660nm – 1100nm can be covered. Frequency doubling enables tunability in the visible blue-green range. In addition, Ti:sapphire has excellent thermal, physical and optical properties.

Ti:sapphire also serves as an active medium for tunable solid-state lasers. These show good operation in periodic-pulsed, quasi-cw and cw operating modes. As a 4-level system, the vibronic laser has a fluorescence lifetime of 3.6µs. The absorption bandwidth of 490nm allows it to be pumped by various sources such as the green argon ion laser, copper vapor laser, frequency-doubled Nd:YAG or other dye lasers. Flash lamp pumping is also possible for a short fluorescence lifetime. These factors and a broad tunability make it a replacement for many dye lasers.