Efficient excitations of radially and azimuthally polarized Nd 3+:YAG ceramic microchip laser by use of subwavelength multilayer concentric gratings composed of Nb2O5/SiO2

Cylindrical vector beams were produced from laser diode end-pumped Nd:YAG ceramic microchip laser by use of two types of subwavelength multilayer gratings as the axisymmetric-polarization output couplers respectively. The grating mirrors are composed of high- and low-refractive-index (Nb2O5/SiO2) layers alternately while each layer is shaped into triangle and concentric corrugations. For radially polarized laser output, the beam power reached 610mW with a polarization extinction ratio ( PER) of 61: 1 and a slope efficiency of 68.2%; for azimuthally polarized laser output, the beam power reached 626mW with a PER of 58: 1 and a slope efficiency of 47.6%. In both cases, the laser beams had near-diffraction limited quality. Small differences of beam power, PER and slope efficiency between radially and azimuthally polarized laser outputs were not critical, and could be minimized by further optimized adjustment to laser cavity and the reflectances of respective grating mirrors. The results manifested, by use of the photonic crystal gratings mirrors and end-pumped microchip laser configuration, CVBs can be generated efficiently with high modal symmetry and polarization purity. (C) 2008 Optical Society of America.

Passively Q-switched Yb : YAG laser with Cr4+: YAG as the saturable absorber

By using a continuous-wave Ti:sapphire laser as a pumping source, we demonstrated a passively Q-switched Yb:YAG laser at room temperature with Cr4+:YAG as the saturable absorber. We achieved an average output power of as much as 55 mW at 1.03 mum with a pulse width (FWHM) as short as 350 ns. The initial transmission of the Cr4+:YAG has an effect on the pulse duration (FWHM) and the repetition rate of the Yb:YAG passively Q-switched laser. The Yb:YAG crystal can be a most promising passively Q-switched laser crystal for compact, efficient, solid-state lasers. (C) 2001 Optical Society of America.

Yb：YAG晶体的红外闪烁特性

用脉冲电子束激发测量了不同Yb^3+掺杂浓度的Yb：YAG晶体的红外(IR)闪烁发光性能。Yb：YAG晶体的IR闪烁发光具有高的光产额和长的衰减时间，但存在浓度猝灭效应和温度依赖关系。Yb：YAG晶体的IR闪烁性能还与晶体品质有关，相同掺杂浓度的Yb：YAG晶体，品质优异的会获得更高的光产额。这一初步的研究成果表明，部分掺Yb^3+晶体有可能用于医学成像装置。

Yb：YAG晶体的合作发光现象

研究了Yb：YAG晶体的合作发光现象。当用940hm的近红外光激发时，Yb：YAG晶体有明显的上转换蓝色发光。实验发现498nm的蓝色发光强度与激发功率的平方成正比，而且Yb^3＋掺杂浓度越高，蓝色发光越强。分析表明这是Yb^3＋间强的相互作用导致的合作发光，是由于Yb^3＋在共价性的YAG基质中，它的4f^I3电子易于与近邻离子发生相互作用导致的。

Temperature dependence of the 1.03 mu m stimulated emission cross section of Cr : Yb : YAG crystal

The fluorescence emission spectra of Cr:Yb:YAG crystal are measured and the effective stimulated emission cross section of the crystal are obtained from -80 degrees C to +80 degrees C. A linear temperature dependence between -80 degrees C and +80 degrees C is reported for the 1.03 mu m peak stimulated emission cross section of Cr:Yb:YAG crystal. (c) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Color centers in Yb : YAG crystals grown by temperature-gradient techniques

Yb: YAG (Yb: Y3Al5O12) crystals have been grown by temperature-gradient techniques (TGT) and their color centers and impurity defects were investigated by means of gamma irradiations and thermal treatment. Two color centers located at 255 and 290 nm were observed in the as-grown TGT-Yb: YAG. Analysis shows that the 255 nm band may be associated with Fe3+ ions. Absorption intensity changes of the 290 nm band after gamma irradiation and thermal treatment indicate that this band may be associated with oxygen-vacancy defects. (c) 2006 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Cr,Yb:YAG晶体的自调Q激光性能

用光纤耦合激光二极管抽运Cr,Yb:YAG晶体获得了1.03 μm的自调Q激光输出,输出的调Q脉冲非常稳定,抽运阈值功率为680 mW,脉冲宽度为3.3 ns,获得的平均功率为156 mW,斜率效率为18.5%。随着抽运功率的增大,重复频率成线性增长,而脉宽略有减少,单脉冲能量和峰值功率都始终呈增大趋势。光束质量因子M2为1.17。

Yb：YAG晶体的闪烁特性

通过不同Yb^3＋掺杂浓度（5％-30％，原子数分数）的Yb：YAG晶体的阴极射线发光谱、衰减时间、光输出及其温度依赖关系的测量，研究了Yb：YAG晶体的闪烁性能。不同Yh^3＋掺杂浓度的Yb：YAG晶体具有不同的光输出和猝灭温度，光输出随Yb^3＋掺杂浓度的增大而降低，猝灭温度则随掺杂浓度的增大而升高。室温下Yb：YAG晶体的发光衰减时间较短，均小于50ns。Yb^3＋掺杂浓度为5％的Yb：YAG晶体具有较高的光输出和较低的猝灭温度。

Yb：YAG及Cr，Yb：YAG晶体的发光特性

研究了室温下Yb：YAG的上转换荧光光谱，此荧光归因于Yb^3＋离子的“合作”发光和Yb抖离子到稀土杂质离子的能量转移。测试了Yb；YAG晶体的X射线荧光，发光峰对应于电荷迁移态到Yb^3＋离子的基态、激光态间的跃迁。研究了Cr，Yb：YAG晶体的荧光光谱。讨论了Cr^4＋激光输出的可能性。

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.

国产Yb∶YAG透明陶瓷实现激光输出

YAG单晶是高功率激光的重要材料，近年来高透明度多晶陶瓷作为激光介质引起人们广泛的注意。YAG陶瓷相对单晶具有易制造大尺寸、掺杂浓度高、易批量生产等优点。在Nd：YAG陶瓷获得长足发展的同时，Yb掺杂的陶瓷也得到了越来越多的关注。Yb：YAG陶瓷与Nd：YAG陶瓷相比具有许多优点：Yb掺杂的激光介质无交叉弛豫振荡和激发态吸收，有较宽的吸收带，较长的荧光寿命及较高的量子效率等。因此，高质量的Yb：YAG陶瓷将是非常理想的高功率激光材料。

Yb:YAP与Yb:YAG晶体光谱性能比较

应用中频感应提拉法生长出掺杂浓度为10 at.-%的Yb:YAG与Yb:YAP晶体，对比了室温下两种晶体的吸收和发射光谱特性。结果表明，Yb:YAG晶体比Yb:YAP晶体有更好的激光性能和低的阈值；同时对比发现，Yb:YAP晶体的吸收截面是Yb:YAG晶体的2.16倍，它容易实现LD泵；由于Yb:YAP晶体的各向异性，它有轴向效应明显，它可以产生偏振激光。

一种用于Yb：YAG激光器的波长分离膜的研制

以1030nm高反．940。980nm高透的波长分离膜作为实例，为提高该薄膜元件的波长分离效果，从膜系的优化方面做了一系列的研究。诸如采用带通滤光片的设计思想，在膜堆两侧加入了匹配层，调整膜堆的周期厚度，并用膜系设计软件对通带作进一步的优化。通过这一系列的优化设计后．利用RF双离子柬溅射工艺在BK7玻璃基底上沉积样品薄膜，并在基底背面加镀通带增透膜。结果显示，透射带在940和980nm处的透过率分别为97．73％和93．63％．反射带在1030nm的反射率为99．99％。对所制备的样品薄膜进行了激光损伤阈