Elaboration and Luminescence Properties of Laser-Heated Pedestal Growth Sr₃Al₂O₆-Based Fibers

Abstract

The development of transparent optical fibers represents one of the biggest scientific challenges for a wide variety of modern technologies ranging from communication systems to medical applications. Here, transparent Sr3Al2O6 crystalline fibers have been grown by the laser-heated pedestal growth (LHPG) technique and the effect of using unconventional glass or ceramic seed is discussed. These fibers exhibit a unique micro- and nanostructure made of veins dispersed in a single-oriented Sr3Al2O6 crystalline matrix, which has been thoroughly characterized by using electron backscatter diffraction and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy. The LHPG method also successfully produced optical fibers of 1 at% Er3+-doped Sr3Al2O6. Even when other impurity was detected, the emission spectrum of the fiber presented sharp Er3+ emission bands and long fluorescence lifetime values arising from the high crystalline structure perfection provided by the LHPG method.

Growth, Spectroscopy, and Laser Performance of a 2.79 μm Er: YSGG Single Crystal Fibers

“…With the development of a growth method and SCF laser, the various crystals were prepared, and traditional garnet crystal-like YAG was the most studied material, with different doping rare earth elements applied for the laser system in the range of 1-2 µm. The modification of the material for a higher laser output and longer wavelength is still a hot topic in this field [14][15][16][17][18][19]. The common method for SCF growth is laser-heated pedestal growth (LHPG) and micropulling-down (µ-PD); the feature of LHPG is that the CO 2 laser heating and high precision setup can help to grow a high-melting-point and extreme-shaped crystal because it is crucible-free.…”