Influences of the Sc3+ content on the microstructure and optical properties of 10 at.% Yb:Y3ScxAl5-xO12 laser ceramics

Abstract

10 at.% Yb:Y3ScxAl5-xO12 (x = 0.25, 0.5, 1.0 and 1.5) transparent ceramics have been successfully fabricated by the solid state reaction method combined with vacuum sintering, whose transmittances reach 80% at 1100 nm with thickness of 3.0 mm. The full width at half maximum (FWHM) of the emission peaks located at about 1030 nm increases for increasing the Sc3+ content, and a maximum FWHM of 14.53 nm is obtained for 10 at.% Yb:Y3Sc1.5Al3.5O12 ceramics, which is 1.4 times larger than that of the 10 at.% Yb:Y3Al5O12 (Yb:YAG) ceramics. Finally, the laser performance of the 10 at.% Yb:Y3Sc1.5Al3.5O12 ceramics was tested and compared with that of a standard 10 at.% Yb:YAG sample. In quasi continuous wave (QCW) regime, a maximum laser output power of 10.8 W was obtained with the slope efficiency of 66.4%. The tuning range significantly broadens in the case of the Yb:YSAG sample, reaching a width of 86.2 nm.