Recently, the research groups led by Prof. ZHANG Qingli and Prof. JIANG Haihe from Hefei Institutes of Physical Science (HFIPS) of Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) studied the growth and laser performance of gradient concentration Nd:YAG and Nd:GdYAG crystals, and found that Nd:GdYAG crystals outperformed Nd:YAG crystals in terms of laser performance.
The relevant results were published in Optics and Laser Technology.
Traditional laser crystals typically have uniform concentration, leading to significant thermal effects during laser operation. This can hinder improvements in laser power and beam quality.
The previous research suggested that gradient concentration crystals could improve these thermal effects effectively.
In this study, the team grew a range of Nd:YAG and Nd:GdYAG crystals with different gradient concentrations. Results revealed that Nd:GdYAG crystals had better laser performance compared to Nd:YAG crystals. The laser slope efficiency of 0.17~0.38 at% Nd:YAG and 0.18~0.32 at% Nd:GdYAG are 52.8% and 55.0%, respectively. The addition of Gd3+ helped optimize the laser performance of Nd3+.
This work show that the gradient concentration laser crystal is expected to provide a new type of crystal material for high efficiency laser technology.
the as-grown gradual concentration crystals (Image by DOU Renqin)
Output power with respect to the absorbed pump power (Image by DOU Renqin)
