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Polycrystalline Ho: Lu AG laser ceramics: Fabrication, microstructure, and optical characterization
Author(s) -
Li Chaoyu,
Xie Tengfei,
Ye Zhang,
Yao Baoquan,
Kou Huamin,
Pan Yubai,
Li Jiang
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
journal of the american ceramic society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.9
H-Index - 196
eISSN - 1551-2916
pISSN - 0002-7820
DOI - 10.1111/jace.14771
Subject(s) - materials science , microstructure , transparent ceramics , crystallite , ceramic , laser , optics , grain size , slope efficiency , transmittance , continuous wave , lithium fluoride , yttrium , analytical chemistry (journal) , optoelectronics , fiber laser , wavelength , oxide , composite material , metallurgy , physics , chemistry , chromatography , nuclear physics
Abstract Ho:Lu 3 Al 5 O 12 (Lu AG ) transparent ceramics are potential 2 μm eye‐safe laser materials. Polycrystalline 0.8 at.% Ho:Lu AG ceramics with high optical quality were successfully fabricated by solid‐state reactive sintering of high‐purity oxide powders. The microstructure, the optical transmission, the spectrum characteristic, and the laser performance were investigated in this paper. The average grain size of Ho:Lu AG ceramics vacuum sintered at 1830°C for 30 hour is about 14 μm. The in‐line transmittance of the sample is measured to be 81.7% and 82.0% at 1000 and 2250 nm, respectively. The absorption and the emission cross sections are calculated to be 0.88 × 10 −20 cm 2 at 1906 nm and 1.26 × 10 −20 cm 2 at 2094 nm. Using a thulium‐doped yttrium‐lithium‐fluoride (Tm: YLF ) laser with the central wavelength of 1907.5 nm as the pump source, 2.67 W continuous wave ( CW ) laser operation at 2100.74 nm was obtained with a slope efficiency of 26.5%. The beam quality factor M 2 was calculated to be 1.1, which indicated nearly diffraction‐limited beam propagation and the laser was the fundamental TEM 00 Gaussian mode.