Abstract
Crystals of the monoclinic double tungstates KY(WO4)2 (= KYW), KGd(WO4)2, and KLu(WO4)2 are excellent laser host materials due to their high refractive indices on the order of 2, good thermal conductivity, and large transition cross-sections of rare-earth ions, in particular Yb3+, doped into these crystals. Yb3+-doped double tungstate thin layers enable lasing with a small quantum defect [1] and high slope efficiency [2], making them well suited for high-power lasers [3] and waveguide lasers [4]. Co-doping KYW:Yb3+ layers with appropriate amounts of Lu3+ and Gd3+ increases the refractive index contrast with respect to the undoped KYW substrate, thus reducing the required layer thickness for waveguiding, while simultaneously providing lattice matching between layer and substrate [5]. On the other hand, for thin-disk laser applications highly Yb3+-doped KYW layers are needed. This can be achieved by either growing KLu(WO4)2:Yb3+ layers on undoped KLu(WO4)2 substrates because of the similar ion radii of Yb3+ and Lu3+ [3] or co-doping a KYW:Yb3+ layer with Gd3+ for compensating the induced lattice mismatch with respect to the undoped KYW substrate.
© 2011 Optical Society of America
PDF ArticleMore Like This
D. Geskus, S. Aravazhi, E. Bernhardi, C. Grivas, K. Wörhoff, and M. Pollnau
ATuB2 Advanced Solid-State Photonics (ASSL) 2010
Shanmugam Aravazhi, Dimitri Geskus, Koop van Dalfsen, Sergio A. Vázquez-Córdova, Christos Grivas, Uwe Griebner, Sonia M. García-Blanco, and Markus Pollnau
CE_6_1 The European Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics (CLEO/Europe) 2013
D. Geskus, S. Aravazhi, K. Wörhoff, and M. Pollnau
CA7_4 The European Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics (CLEO/Europe) 2011