Diode pumped highly efficient Yb:Lu3Al5O12 ceramic laser

Abstract

A diode pumped ytterbium-doped lutetium aluminum garnet (Yb:LuAG) ceramic laser is reported for the first time to our knowledge. Using the solid state reactive vacuum sintering technique we have successfully fabricated high optical quality Yb:LuAG ceramics. We show that even with an uncoated Yb:LuAG ceramic sample a maximum output power of 7 W could be achieved under 13 W absorbed pump power, and the laser has a slope efficiency as high as 63%. Considering that Yb:LuAG has higher thermal conductivity than Yb:YAG under heavy doping situation, Yb:LuAG ceramic could be an attractive laser gain medium for the high power solid state lasers applications.

Transparent Ceramics

“…SPS has been confirmed to be a viable technique to synthesize PLZT transparent ceramics. An example is the preparation of PLZT(8/65/35) ceramics [227]. The PLZT powder was synthesized by using a wet-dry combination method.…”

Comparative investigation on Yb:YAG and Yb:LuAG transparent laser ceramics

“…As a promising candidate for laser host material, LuAG shows different properties compared with YAG materials [19][20][21][22]. Despite pure YAG crystals show a higher thermal conductivity than that of pure LuAG crystals, the Yb 3+ ions doped into YAG can lead to dramatic decrease of thermal conductivity due to the decline in the mean free path of phonons, which is the consequence of the huge difference in mass between Yb 3+ and Y 3+ ions [23,24].…”

Manufacturing issues and optical properties of rare-earth (Y, Lu, Sc, Nd) aluminate garnets composite transparent ceramics

“…Rare-earth-doped garnet polycrystalline ceramics like Nd:YAG (Y 3Àx Nd x Al 5 O 12 ) [1,2], Yb:LuAG (Lu 3Àx Yb x Al 5 O 12 ) [3] or Nd:YSAG (Y 3Àx Nd x ScAl 4 O 12 ) [4][5][6] have been demonstrated to be suitable materials for laser applications. Such ceramics have optical and thermomechanical properties similar or even higher than single-crystals of same crystalline structure and chemical composition [7][8][9] and are thus suitable for high power/energy laser applications.…”