Fabrication of high-efficiency Yb:Y2O3 laser ceramics without photodarkening |
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| Authors: | Qing Li Jun Wang Jie Ma Meng Ni Fan Yang Peng Liu Kuo Yang Lee Hsing-I Hsiang Deyuan Shen Dingyuan Tang |
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| Affiliation: | 1. Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Advanced Laser Materials and Devices, School of Physics and Electronic Engineering, Jiangsu Normal University, Xuzhou, China;2. School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore;3. Department of Resources Engineering, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan |
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| Abstract: | High-efficiency Yb:Y2O3 laser ceramics were fabricated using the vacuum-sintering plus hot isostatic pressing (HIP) without sintering additives. High-purity well-dispersed nanocrystalline Yb:Y2O3 powder was synthesized using a modified co-precipitation method in-house. The green bodies were first vacuum sintered at a temperature as low as 1430°C and then HIPed at 1450°C. Finally, the samples were air annealed at 800°C for 10 h. Although no sintering aids were used, full density of the samples with excellent optical homogeneity and an inline transmission of 80% at 400 nm could be obtained. Moreover, photodarkening phenomenon was not detected in the ceramics. Preliminary laser experiment with the fabricated ceramics in a two-mirror cavity has demonstrated 32 W continuous-wave (CW) output at ～1077 nm with an optical-to-optical conversion efficiency of 58.2%. To the best of our knowledge, this is so far the highest CW output power and optical-to-optical conversion efficiency achieved with the Yb3+-doped sesquioxide ceramics in a simple two-mirror cavity. |
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| Keywords: | high laser efficiency high optical quality sesquioxide ceramic Yb:Y2O3 |
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