Over the last years there has been tremendous progress with compact pulsed lasers based on various solid-state gain media such as crystals and glasses doped with laser-active ions. With the integration of increasingly colorful saturable-absorber materials, these small sources are capable of delivering stable pulses with duration as short as femtosecond and repetition rate exceeding ten gigahertz. These promising sources are known as solid-state waveguide lasers, which have become synonymous with miniaturization, integration, and functionality. This article overviews the progress in the development of passively Q-switched and mode-locked solid-state waveguide lasers employing diverse saturable absorbers. The most commonly used laser configurations, the state-of-the-art waveguide fabrication techniques and the experimental demonstrations of pulsed waveguide lasers are summarized and reviewed. Selected well-noted topics which may shape the future directions in this field are also presented.
