A new Yb-doped oxyorthosilicate laser crystal: Yb : Gd2SiO5

A new Yb-doped oxyorthosilicate laser crystal, Yb:Gd2SiO5 (Yb:GSO), has been grown by the Czochralski (Cz) method. The crystal structure was determined by means of X-ray diffraction analysis. Room temperature absorption and fluorescence spectra of Yb3+ ions in GSO crystal were measured. Then. spectroscopic parameters of Yb:GSO were calculated and compared with those of another Yb-doped oxyorthosilicate crystal Yb:YSO. Results indicated that Yb:GSO crystal seemed to be a very promising laser gain media in generating ultra-pulses and tunable solid state laser applications. As expected, the output power of 2.72 W at 1089 nm was achieved in Yb:GSO crystal with absorbed power of only 4.22 W at 976 nm, corresponding to the slope efficiency of 71.2% through the preliminary laser experiment. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Diode-pumped passively q-switched Nd : YAG ceramic laser with a Cr4+: YAG crystal-satiable absorber

Transparent polycrystalline Nd:YAG ceramics were fabricated by solid-state reactive sintering a mixture of commercial Al2O3,Y2O3, and Nd2O3 powders. The powders were mixed in ethanol and doped with 0.5 wt% tetraethoxysilane, dried, and pressed. Pressed samples were sintered at 1750 degrees C in vacuum. Transparent fully dense samples with average grain sizes of 10 mu m were obtained. The 1 at.% Nd:YAG ceramic was used to research passively Q-switched laser output with a Cr4+:YAG crystal as a saturable absorber. An average output power of 94 mW with a pulse width of 50 ns was obtained when the incident pump power was 750 mW. The slope efficiency was 13%. The pulse energy is 5 mu J, and the peak power is about 100 W.

Diode-pumped Yb : YAG ceramic laser

Transparent polycrystalline Yb:YAG ceramics were fabricated by solid-state reactive sintering a mixture of commercial Al2O3, Y2O3, and Yb2O3 powders. The powders were mixed in ethanol and doped with 0.5 wt% tetraethoxysilane, dried, and pressed. Pressed samples were sintered at 1730 degrees C in vacuum. Transparent fully dense samples with grain sizes of several micrometers were obtained. The phase from 1500 degrees to 1700 degrees C was important for the grain growth, in which the grains grew quickly and a mass of pores were eliminated from the body of the sample. Annealing was an important step to remove the vacancies of oxygen and transform Yb2+ to Yb3+. The 1 at.% Yb:YAG ceramic sample was pumped by a diode laser to study the laser properties. The maximum output power of 1.02 W was obtained with a slope efficiency of 25% at 1030 nm. The size of the lasering sample was 4 mm x 4 mm x 3 mm.

The separation of beta-BBO phase in alpha-BBO crystal by the irradiation of femtosecond laser

We observed and described some phenomena, which were that when a alpha-BBO crystal was irradiated by a focused femtosecond laser beam, the temperature effect happened in a minute area of focus, then the induced beta-BBO phase was separated within the minute area in the alpha-BBO crystal. (C) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.