Doped or alloyed materials and hot isostatic pressing method of making same

1. A doped substrate comprising:

a substrate comprising at least one of a glass material, a single crystal material, a poly-crystalline material, a ceramic material, or a semiconductor material; and

a dopant comprising one or more transition metals, one or more rare earth elements, or a combination of both, the doped substrate characterized in that a spectral laser output of the doped substrate exhibits a nominally single frequency having a linewidth less than about 5 nm.

2. The doped substrate of claim 1 , wherein a spectral laser output of the doped substrate is characterized by a nominally single frequency having a linewidth less than about 1 nm.

3. The doped substrate of claim 1 , wherein a spectral laser output of the doped substrate is characterized by a nominally single frequency having a linewidth less than about 140 pm.

4. The doped substrate of claim 1 , wherein the substrate is optically transparent.

5. The doped substrate of claim 1 , wherein the dopant is one or more atomic or ionic species of an element selected from the group consisting of silver, gold, cobalt, chromium, copper, iridium, iron, manganese, molybdenum, niobium, nickel, palladium, platinum, rhenium, rhodium, ruthenium, tantalum, titanium, vanadium, tungsten, zirconium, scandium, yttrium, lanthanum, cerium, praseodymium, neodymium, samarium, europium, gadolinium, terbium, dysprosium, holmium, erbium, thulium, ytterbium, lutetium, or combinations thereof.

6. The doped substrate of claim 1 , wherein the dopant comprises one or more layers of distinct chemical species, a plurality of blended dopant materials, or a plurality of dopant materials as a eutectic.

7. The doped substrate of claim 1 , wherein a thickness of the dopant is within a range from about 60 Å to about 60,000 Å.

8. The doped substrate of claim 1 , wherein the dopant further comprises a non-metallic element or compound.

9. The doped substrate of claim 8 , wherein the substrate is selected from the group consisting of zinc selenide, zinc sulfide, zinc telluride, cadmium selenide, cadmium sulfide, cadmium telluride, mercury cadmium telluride; and the dopant is sulfur, tellurium, or a combination of both.

10. The doped substrate of claim 1 , wherein the substrate is selected from the group consisting of zinc selenide (ZnSe), zinc sulphide (ZnS), yttrium aluminum garnet (YAG), yttrium lithium fluoride (YLF), yttrium orthovanadate (Nd:YVO 4 ), neodymium doped yttrium calcium oxoborate (Nd: YCa 4 O(BO 3 ) 3 ), silicate glass, phosphate glass, sapphire, lithium strontium (or calcium) aluminum fluoride (Ce:LiSAF, Ce:LiCAF), chrysoberyl (alexandrite), calcium fluoride (CaF 2 ), gallium nitride (GaN), gallium phosphide (GaP), indium gallium nitride (InGaN), aluminum gallium indium nitride (AlGaInN), lithium niobate (LiNbO 3 ), potassium niobate (KNbO 3 ), strontium barium niobate (SBN), yttrium scandium gallium garnet (YSGG), yttrium vanadate (YVO 4 ), terbium gallium garnet (Tb 3 Ga 5 O 12 ), potassium gadolinium tungstate (KGW), forsterite (Mg 2 SiO 4 ), barium yttrium fluoride (BaY 2 F 5 ), barium yttrium lutetium fluoride (BaYLuF 5 ), aluminum gallium arsenide phosphide (AlGaAsP), and combinations thereof.

11. The doped substrate of claim 1 , wherein the substate is ZnSe or ZnS and the dopant is chromium or iron.

12. The doped substrate of claim 1 which comprises a solid state laser material.

13. The doped substrate of claim 1 wherein the dopant alters the optical properties of the substrate.

14. The doped substrate of claim 1 , wherein the dopant is diffused into the substrate a depth of up to approximately 650 μm.