Fabrication and characterizations of Tm:Lu2O3 transparent ceramics for 2 mu m laser applications

Year: 2022

Authors: Liu Ziyu; Toci Guido; Pirri Angela; Patrizi Barbara; Feng Yagang; Hu Dianjun; Chen Haohong; Hreniak Dariusz; Vannini Matteo; Li Jiang

Autors Affiliation: Chinese Acad Sci, Shanghai Inst Ceram, Key Lab Transparent Optofunct Inorgan Mat, Shanghai 201899, Peoples R China; Univ Chinese Acad Sci, Ctr Mat Sci & Optoelect Technol, Beijing 100049, Peoples R China; CNR, Ist Nazl Ott, CNR INO, Via Madonna Piano 10C, I-50019 Sesto Fiorentino, Italy; CNR, Ist Fis Applicata N Carrara, CNR IFAC, Via Madonna Piano 10C, I-50019 Sesto Fiorentino, Italy; Polish Acad Sci, Inst Low Temp & Struct Res, Okolna 2, PL-50422 Wroclaw, Poland.

Abstract: 2 at.% Tm:Lu2O3 ceramics were fabricated by vacuum sintering plus hot isostatic pressing (HIP) from nano-powders without sintering aids. The resultant powders consist of spherical particles with the diameter of about 100 nm. The HIP post-treated ceramic sample has fine grains and clean grain boundaries, whose in-line transmittance reaches 82.1% at 2000 nm (1.3 mm thickness). The mechanical, thermal, and spectral properties were also investigated systematically. The thermal conductivity of the Tm:Lu2O3 transparent ceramics is 10.2 W.m(-1).K-1 at mom temperature. The absorption and emission cross-sections are 0.35 x 10(-20) cm(2) at 796 nm and 1.13 x 10(-20) cm(2) at 1943 nm, respectively. The laser performance was tested in quasi-continuous wave (QCW) conditions. A maximum laser output power of 0.45 W was obtained with a slope efficiency of 16.0%. Results indicate that Tm:Lu2O3 transparent ceramics is a promising gain medium for 2 mu m laser applications.

Journal/Review: OPTICAL MATERIALS

Volume: 131      Pages from: 112705-1  to: 112705-7

More Information: This work was supported by the National Key R & D Program of China (Grant No. 2021YFE0104800) , and the Key Research Project of the Frontier Science of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (No. QYZDB-SSW-JSC022) . The activity was also partially supported by the Joint Research Project between Chinese Academy of Sciences and National Research Council (CAS-CNR) 2020-2022, and National Center for Research and Development (Contract No. WPC2/1/SCAPOL/2021) .
KeyWords: Tm:Lu2O3 transparent ceramics; Hot isostatic pressing; Optical properties; Thermal properties; Laser performance
DOI: 10.1016/j.optmat.2022.112705