Abstract

Solid-state lasers at 2.1 μm having many applications for medical surgery, atmospheric wind lidar, gas detection, material processing and pumping of mid-IR optical parametric oscillators are attracting great interest in the last years. Tm- and Ho-doped sesquioxides (Tm³⁺:Lu₂O₃, Tm³⁺:Sc₂O₃, Ho: ³⁺:Lu₂O₃ and others) having an extraordinary long-wavelength 2-μm luminescence band and a high thermal conductivity open up new opportunities for highly efficient laser generation at around 2.1 μm [1]. Transparent laser ceramic materials are attracting great interest as a substitute for the single crystals. Recently, the high-quality sesquioxides ceramics doped by Nd³⁺ or Yb³⁺ ions have demonstrated good potential for the efficient laser oscillation. This presentation is an overview of our investigations of the 2.1- μm lasers based on the novel Tm³⁺:Lu₂O₃ ceramics with diode or laser pumping at 796 or 810 nm [2-6].

© 2013 IEEE