Abstract

The sesquioxides Sc₂O₃, Y₂O₃, and Lu₂O₃ are well-known due to their superior thermo-mechanical properties. They exhibit large heat conductivities which exceed that of YAG by up to 50 % and can easily doped with rare-earth ions. Furthermore, their phonon energies are as low as 600 cm⁻¹ which reduces the probability of non-radiative transitions of the laser ion and thus improves the quantum efficiency. The most attractive doping ion is trivalent Yb, because its energy level structure is very simple with only two multiplets. Thus, loss processes like excited-state absorption, upconversion, and cross-relaxation are absent.

© 2007 IEEE