Apparatus, methods, systems and devices for providing a temperature independent laser by determining a temperature dependence of a lasing wavelength, selecting the lasing wavelength having minimal temperature dependence and constraining the lasing wavelength of the laser device to the selected lasing wavelength. In an embodiment, a volumetric Bragg grating in photo-thermal refractive glass is used as a laser cavity mirror for constraining the laser emission at the selected wavelength. The laser device may be a broad spectrum laser such as an Er.sup.3+ doped glass broad spectrum laser. In an embodiment, the lasers are operated where the temperature dependence of the stimulated emission cross section is used to compensate for temperature dependent changes of other laser components.