Resonant absorption of a short-pulse laser in a doped dielectric

A simple model is used to calculate the energy absorption efficiency when a laser of short pulse length impinges on a dielectric slab that is doped wi th an impurity with a resonant line at the laser frequency. It is found tha t the energy absorption efficiency is maximized for a certain degree of dop ing concentration (at a given pulse length) and also for a certain pulselen gth (at a given doping concentration). Dimensionless parameters are constru cted, allowing calculations with one set of parameters be used to infer the results expected for other sets of parameters. (C) 1999 American Institute of Physics. [S0003-6951(99)02720-5].