Optimization of laser emission at 28 μm by Er:Lu₂O₃ ceramics

Abstract

We have demonstrated the continuous-wave operation of a highly efficient 2.8 μm Er-doped LuO ceramic laser at room temperature. An Er:LuO ceramic with a doping concentration of 11 at.% afforded a slope efficiency of 29% and an output power of 2.3 W with pumping at 10 W. To our knowledge, these are the highest slope efficiency and output power obtained to date for an Er:LuO ceramic laser at 2.8 μm. In addition, we prepared ceramics with various doping concentrations and determined their emission cross sections by fluorescence lifetime measurements and emission spectroscopy.

Czochralski growth of mixed cubic sesquioxide crystals in the ternary system Lu2O3–Sc2O3–Y2O3

“…The first laser demonstration in Nd:Y 2 O 3 ceramics dates back to 2001 (Lu et al, 2001). Since then, considerable progress has been made in the fabrication and laser operation of ceramic sesquioxides doped with Yb 3+ (Tokurakawa et al, 2009), Tm 3+ (Lagatsky, Antipov et al, 2012) or Er 3+ (Uehara et al, 2018). Recently, the fabrication (Lu et al, 2013;Liu et al, 2015;Thoř et al, 2021) and laser operation (Zhou et al, 2017;Jing et al, 2018;Hao et al, 2018;Toci et al, 2021) of mixed sesquioxides has drawn the attention of researchers.…”

Spectroscopy and efficient laser operation around 2.8 μm of Er:(Lu,Sc)2O3 sesquioxide ceramics

“…So far ~2.8 µm emission from Er 3+ sesquioxide lasers based on Lu 2 O 3 [19][20][21] and Y 2 O 3 [22][23][24] ceramics has been studied. Very recently, Yao et al reported on a diodepumped Er:Lu 2 O 3 ceramic laser delivering 6.7 W at 2845 nm with a slope efficiency of 30.2%, representing record-high results in terms of output power and efficiency obtained so far [19].…”

High Power and Short Pulse Width Operation of Passively Q-Switched Er:Lu2O3 Ceramic Laser at 2.7 μm

“…Recently, Er:Lu 2 O 3 crystal was proven to be an excellent sesquioxide for power scaling, and efficient laser operation at 2.84 µm has been demonstrated [9]. Due to the difficulty in growing high quality and large-volume sesquioxide crystals, which originates from their high melting point (>2400 • C), intense research efforts have been focused on the development of sesquioxide ceramic lasers [10][11][12][13][14][15][16]. Polycrystalline Er:Lu 2 O 3 ceramic has recently been fabricated successfully and spectroscopically characterized [13,14].…”

“…Polycrystalline Er:Lu 2 O 3 ceramic has recently been fabricated successfully and spectroscopically characterized [13,14]. In 2014, the first continuous-wave (CW) laser radiation of Er:Lu 2 O 3 ceramic around 3 µm was reported [15], and very recently, efficient diode pumped CW operation was realized [16].…”