Faraday effect measurements of holmium oxide (Ho2O3) ceramics-based magneto-optical materials

David Vojna,Hiroaki Furuse,Simon Hutchinson,Ondrej Slezak,Ryo Yasuhara,Antonio Lucianetti,Tomas Mocek,Miroslav Cech

doi:10.1017/hpl.2017.37

Abstract

Faraday effect measurements of holmium oxide (Ho2O3) ceramics-based magneto-optical materials, highly potential material candidates for high-energy laser Faraday isolators, are presented in this paper. Temperature dependence of the Verdet constant of nondoped Ho2O3 ceramics was measured for temperatures 15–305 K at $1.064~\unicode[STIX]{x03BC}\text{m}$ wavelength. The Verdet constant dispersion for wavelengths 0.5–$1~\unicode[STIX]{x03BC}\text{m}$ and $1.064~\unicode[STIX]{x03BC}\text{m}$ was measured for both nondoped Ho2O3 ceramics and Ho2O3 ceramics doped with terbium Tb3+ (0.2 at. %) and cerium Ce3+ (0.1 at. %) ions. The results suggest that the relatively low level of doping of Ho2O3 with these ions has no significant boosting impact on the Faraday effect. Therefore, other compositions of Ho2O3 ceramics-based magneto-optical materials, as well as various doping concentrations, should be further examined.

Highlights

In the context of the continuously increasing average power of high-energy class diode pumped solid-state lasers (HECDPSSLs), careful treatment of the thermal effects due to the parasitic absorption of power in optical components has become tremendously important for the further development of HEC-DPSSLs[1,2,3,4]
A terbium scandium aluminum garnet (TSAG) crystal[20], terbium aluminum garnet (TAG) ceramics[21], cerium-doped TAG ceramics[22], or rare-earth (RE) elements-doped terbium gallium garnet (TGG) crystals[23, 24] were reported as potential material candidates for the future generation of VIS–NIR Faraday isolator (FI)
The Verdet constant dispersion of Ho2O3 doped with Tb3+ or Ce3+ ions was measured in order to investigate the impact of doping on the Faraday effect in Ho2O3

Summary

Introduction

In the context of the continuously increasing average power of high-energy class diode pumped solid-state lasers (HECDPSSLs), careful treatment of the thermal effects due to the parasitic absorption of power in optical components has become tremendously important for the further development of HEC-DPSSLs[1,2,3,4]. Supersede TGG, as it is limited by increasing absorption losses, and large-aperture TGG elements are difficult to manufacture[19] In this manner, a terbium scandium aluminum garnet (TSAG) crystal[20], terbium aluminum garnet (TAG) ceramics[21], cerium-doped TAG ceramics[22], or rare-earth (RE) elements-doped TGG crystals[23, 24] were reported as potential material candidates for the future generation of VIS–NIR FIs. Most recently, attention was brought toward RE sesquioxides (RE2O3) containing a very high concentration of RE3+ ions, which are highly magnetically active. In this work we report measurements of the Faraday effect in Ho2O3 ceramics-based magneto-optical materials, advancing the analysis from the previous work[27].

Laser measurement of the Verdet constant temperature dependence of Ho2O3

Verdet constant dispersion of Ho2O3 ceramics-based magneto-optical materials

Conclusions