Abstract
A new class of Yb-lasers is summarized in this article. The apatite family of crystals has been found to impose favorable spectroscopic and laser properties on the Yb3+ activator ion. Crystals of Yb-doped Ca5(PO5)3F, Sr5(PO4)3F, CaxSr5-x(PO4)3F, and Sr5(VO4)3F have been grown and investigated. Several useful laser crystals have been identified which offer a variety of fundamental laser parameters for designing diode-pumped systems. In general, this class of materials is characterized by high emission cross sections (3.6 - 13.1 x 10-20 cm2), useful emission lifetimes (0.59 - 1.26 msec), a strong pump band (σabs = 2.0 -10.0 x 10-20 cm2) and pump and extraction wavelengths near 900 and 1045 nm, respectively. Efficient lasing has been demonstrated for several of the members of this class of materials, and high optical quality crystals have been grown by the Czochralski method.
© 1994 Optical Society of America
PDF ArticleMore Like This
P. Hong, X. X. Zhang, M. Bass, and B. H. T. Chai
CTuP6 Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics (CLEO:S&I) 1994
L. D. DeLoach, S. A. Payne, W. F. Krupke, L. K. Smith, W. L. Kway, J. B. Tassano, and B. H. T. Chai
LM3 Advanced Solid State Lasers (ASSL) 1993
M. A. Noginov, G. B. Loutts, A. Anderson, and J. C. Wang
CS2 Advanced Solid State Lasers (ASSL) 1998