Co-casting and optical characteristics of transparent segmented composite Er:YAG laser ceramics

• Published in: Journal of materials research Vol. 25; no. 3; pp. 476 - 483
• Main Authors: Kupp, Elizabeth R., Messing, Gary L., Anderson, Julie M., Gopalan, Venkatraman, Dumm, John Q., Kraisinger, Charles, Ter-Gabrielyan, Nikolay, Merkle, Larry D., Dubinskii, Mark, Simonaitis-Castillo, Vida K., Quarles, Gregory J.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York, USA Cambridge University Press 01.03.2010; Springer International Publishing
• Subjects: Applied and Technical Physics; Biomaterials; Ceramic; Inorganic Chemistry; Laser; Materials Engineering; Materials Science; Nanotechnology; Optical properties; Ceramic; Optical properties; Laser
• ISSN: 0884-2914; 2044-5326
• DOI: 10.1557/JMR.2010.0069

A novel colloidal co-casting process was developed to fabricate laser quality, multisegment composite ceramic laser gain materials. The approach was demonstrated for a three segment transparent composite rod 62 mm long by 3 mm diameter consisting of undoped yttrium aluminus garnet (YAG), 0.25% Er:YAG, and 0.5% Er:YAG. The Er concentration profile in the composite has steep, controllable gradients at the segment interfaces, while maintaining constant dopant concentrations within each segment. The composite rod has 84% transmittance at 1645 nm (the lasing wavelength) with a scatter loss of 0.4% cm−1. Laser operation of such a composite Er:YAG ceramic rod was demonstrated for the first time, with nearly equivalent lasing behavior to an Er:YAG single crystal rod.