Single-crystal YAG (Y3Al5O12) fibers have been grown by the laser heated pedestal growth technique with losses as low as 0.3 dB/m at 1.06 μm. These YAG fibers are as long as about 60 cm with diameters around 330 μm. The early fibers were grown from unoriented YAG seed fibers and these fibers exhibited facet steps or ridges on the surface of the fiber. However, recently we have grown fibers using an oriented seed to grow step-free fibers. Scattering losses made on the fibers indicate that the scattering losses are equal to about 30% of the total loss.
Lasing was demonstrated for the first time at 2.09 μm in 0.5% Holmium (Ho) doped YAG single crystal fiber (SCF) fabricated using the Laser Heated Pedestal Growth (LHPG) method. Output power of 23.5 W with 67.5% optical-to-optical slope efficiency is, to the best of our knowledge, the highest output power achieved at 2 µm from a SCF fabricated using LHPG. With continued improvement in the quality of the SCF and better thermal management, output power of few 100s W and higher, especially in the 2 µm spectral region, is realizable in the very near future.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.