New ytterbium-doped apatite crystals for flexible laser design

Technical Report · Tue Mar 01 04:00:00 EST 1994

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/10166773· OSTI ID:10166773

Payne, S A; DeLoach, L D; Smith, L K; Krupke, W F ^[1]; Chai, B H.T.; Loutts, G ^[2]

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1. Lawrence Livermore National Lab., CA (United States)
2. Univ. of Central Florida, Orlando, FL (United States). Center for Research and Education in Optics and Lasers

A new class of Yb-lasers is summarized in this article. The apatite family of crystals has been found to impose favorable spectroscopic and laser properties on the Yb{sup 3+} activator ion. Crystals of Yb-doped Ca{sub 5}(PO{sub 4}){sub 3}F, Sr{sub 5}(PO{sub 4}){sub 3}F, Ca{sub x}Sr{sub 5{minus}x}(PO{sub 4}){sub 3}F, and Sr{sub 5}(VO{sub 4}){sub 3}F have been grown and investigated. Several useful laser crystals have been identified which offer a variety of fundamental laser parameters for designing diode-pumped systems. In general, this class of materials is characterized by high emission cross sections (3.6--13.1 {times} 10{sup {minus}20} cm{sup 2}), useful emission lifetimes (0.59--1.26 msec), a strong pump band ({sigma}{sub abs} = 2.0--10.0 {times} 10{sup {minus}20} cm{sup 2}) and pump and extraction wavelengths near 900 and 1,045 nm, respectively. Efficient lasing has been demonstrated for several of the members of this class of materials, and high optical quality crystals have been grown by the Czochralski method.

• Research Organization: Lawrence Livermore National Lab., CA (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
• DOE Contract Number: W-7405-ENG-48
• OSTI ID: 10166773
• Report Number(s): UCRL-JC--115149; CONF-940226--8; ON: DE94015138
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

42 ENGINEERING
426002
ABSORPTION SPECTRA
APATITES
CALCIUM FLUORIDES
CALCIUM PHOSPHATES
DOPED MATERIALS
ELECTRONIC STRUCTURE
EMISSION SPECTRA
ENERGY-LEVEL TRANSITIONS
EXPERIMENTAL DATA
LASER MATERIALS
LASERS AND MASERS
OPTICAL PROPERTIES
PERFORMANCE
SOLID STATE LASERS
STRONTIUM COMPOUNDS
STRONTIUM FLUORIDES
STRONTIUM PHOSPHATES
VANADATES
YTTERBIUM