Abstract
We report on the first laser operation of ytterbium-doped potassium yttrium double molybdate crystal (Yb:KY(MoO4)2). Single-crystals containing 3 at.% Yb3+-ions were grown by the low temperature gradient Czochralski method. The crystal structure (orthorhombic, sp. gr. D142h – Pbna) was refined with the Rietveld method. Yb:KY(MoO4)2 exhibits a layered structure leading to a strong optical anisotropy and a perfect cleavage along the crystallographic (100) plane. The maximum stimulated-emission cross-section amounts to 3.70×10−20 cm2 at 1008.0 nm with an emission bandwidth of 37 nm (for light polarization E || b ). The Stark splitting is determined at 6 K. Continuous-wave laser operation is achieved in a thin Yb:KY(MoO4)2 crystal plate (thickness: 286 µm) under diode pumping. The microchip laser generated a maximum output power of 0.81 W at 1021-1044 nm with a slope efficiency of 76.4% and polarized emission. Yb:KY(MoO4)2 crystal lamellae / plates are attractive for sub-ns passively Q-switched microchip lasers and thin-disk lasers.
Highlights
Cleavage is the property of crystalline materials to split along certain crystallographic planes
The concept of the thin-film laser using cleaved Nd:KY(MoO4)2 was first proposed [27] by Kaminski et al In the present work, we demonstrate laser operation of a yttrium double molybdate crystal (Yb):KY(MoO4)2 crystal, for the first time to the best of our knowledge, by using its perfect cleavage feature
The single crystals were grown by the Low Temperature Gradient (LTG) Czochralski method [28]
Summary
Cleavage is the property of crystalline materials to split along certain crystallographic planes. It can turn out to be a useful feature for applications where thin laser elements with a large aperture and good parallelism / optical quality of the faces are required This simplifies fabrication of laser elements, especially for soft crystals. Only few crystals doped with rare-earth ions (RE3+) such as Nd3+, Yb3+ or Tm3+ showing perfect cleavage have been applied for lasers in the near-IR, cf Table 1. These include borates (LaB3O6) [7], phosphates (YPO4 and LuPO4) [8,9] and molybdates (BaGd2(MoO4)4) [10]. We demonstrate laser operation of a Yb:KY(MoO4) crystal, for the first time to the best of our knowledge, by using its perfect cleavage feature
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