Low-threshold and broadly tunable lasers of Yb3+-doped yttrium lanthanum oxide ceramic

Abstract

We experimentally demonstrated diode-pumped continuous wave and tunable laser operation of Yb3+-doped yttrium lanthanum oxide transparent ceramic [Yb:(Y1−xLax)2O3,x=0.1], which was fabricated with nanopowders and sintered in H2 atmosphere. As low as 400mW pumping threshold and a slope efficiency of 52% were realized at 1080nm under a high-brightness 976nm diode pump with a fiber core of 50μm and a numerical aperture of 0.22. A maximum output power of 2.1W was obtained when the non-lasing absorbed pump power was 19.5W at 976nm with diode laser of 400μm fiber core. A smooth tunable curve from 1018to1086nm was achieved at 940nm diode pump. Broadband lasing spectra up to 30nm were observed in the tunable laser experiment.

Study on the effect and mechanism of zirconia on the sinterability of yttria transparent ceramic

“…2,3 Much progress has been made in improving the optical quality of ceramic as well as in exploring new laser materials. Y 2 O 3 is promising laser host material for trivalent lanthanide activators due to its superior properties such as refractory nature, stability, and optical clarity over a broad spectral range.…”

Diode-pumped passively mode-locked Yb3+-doped yttrium lanthanum oxide ceramic laser

“…This is to the best of our knowledge the first demonstration of a CW mode-locked Yb:Y [10], among which the strongest absorption near 974 nm is wellmatched with our high-brightness pump diode laser. The CW laser threshold was about 1.4 W (non-lasing absorbed pump power), higher than the 400-mW pumping threshold previously realized at 1080 nm under the same diodepumping [29]. This was caused by the cross-section difference of different emission bands and the large intracavity losses due to the SESAM and large cavity length.…”

“…Ytterbiumdoped double clad fiber lasers can offer an excellent combination of high power laser output and good spatial beam quality [21][22][23][24]. Recently, polycrystalline ceramic laser materials have attracted considerable attention because of their favorable characteristics compared with single crystals, such as easy fabrication, inexpensive, mass producible, high doping concentration and multilayer or multifunctional structure [25,26] [29]. In this letter, we demonstrate, for the first time to our knowledge, a diode-pumped passively modelocked Yb:(Y 1−x La x ) 2 O 3 (x = 0.1) ceramic laser, generating 174-ps pulses with an average power of 162 mW.…”

Tape casting of a YAG/Yb:YAG/YAG transparent ceramic for a broadband tunable laser

“…In particular, the relatively broadband absorption cross-section of Yb ions enables high pump absorption efficiency from 941 to 970 nm, which is within the emission wavelength range of high-power, low-cost InGaAs laser diodes, thus making diode-pumped solid-state Yb-doped lasers attractive for practical high-power and high-energy applications [16][17][18] . Moreover, the large emission cross-section of Yb material enables high-efficiency and widely tunable laser operation [19][20][21][22] .…”