LS&T and CMS FY 2004 Feasibility Proposal 04-FS-006 - Ceramic Laser Materials Interim Report - June 8, 2004
The purpose of this memo is to give an update on our work on ceramic laser materials--feasibility proposal 04-FS-006. Transparent ceramic materials have several major advantages over single crystals in laser applications including, ease and robustness of manufacturing, large apertures, design flexibility, fracture toughness, high activator concentrations, uniformity of composition, no residual stress, and others discussed in the proposal. After a decade of working on making transparent YAG:Nd in 1995 Japanese workers demonstrated samples for the first time that performed as well in lasers as their single crystal counterparts. Since then several laser materials have been made and evaluated. For these reasons, developing ceramic laser materials is the most exciting and futuristic materials topic in today's major solid-state laser conferences. The highlights and executive summary of our work to date are: (1) Ordered a slab of transparent YAG:Nd from Konoshima Chemical Co. for evaluation in the SSHCL. Konoshima is the only company in the world currently making ceramic laser materials for sale. Our slab, the largest one made to date, will arrive within a week and will be evaluated in the SSHCL. (2) Met with the inventor of the Konoshima laser ceramic, Dr. Takagimi Yanagitani, and discussed synthesis and performance of these materials in an all day session at LLNL on May 17. (3) Made our first LLNL in-house nano-sized yttrium aluminum garnet by the CMS sol-gel process. (4) Successfully sintering several samples of nano-particle YAG to near translucency. In this report we will discuss each of the above items and include where relevant pictures or tables or references. In addition to reporting interim results this memo will serve as a reference and a place to put relevant data from subsequent samples throughout the study.
- Research Organization:
- Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- US Department of Energy (US)
- DOE Contract Number:
- W-7405-ENG-48
- OSTI ID:
- 15011560
- Report Number(s):
- UCRL-TR-209484; TRN: US200507%%543
- Resource Relation:
- Other Information: PBD: 3 Feb 2005
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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