Argon Ion Laser

Argon ion lasers are powerful gas lasers, which typically generate multiple watts of optical power in a green or blue output beam with high beam quality.

Multi-watt argon ion lasers can be used e.g. for pumping titanium–sapphire lasers and dye lasers, or for laser light shows. Argon tubes have a limited lifetime of the order of a few thousand hours. An argon laser may thus be preferable if it is used only during a limited number of hours, whereas a diode-pumped solid-state laser is the better solution for reliable and efficient long-term operation.