Laser ceramics with disordered crystalline structure
S. N. Bagayev1, V. V. Osipov2, E. V. Pestryakov1, V. I. Solomonov2,3, V. A. Shitov2, R. N. Maksimov2,3, A. N. Orlov2, V. V. Petrov1
1Institute of Laser Physics, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, Novosibirsk, 630090 Russia
2Institute of Electrophysics, Ural Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, Ekaterinburg, 620016 Russia
3Yeltsyn Ural Federal University, Ekaterinburg, 620002 Russia
Keywords: laser ceramics, yttrium oxide, zirconium oxide, hafnium oxide, neodymium ions, ytterbium ions
Abstract
New ceramic materials based on yttrium oxide Y2O3 with isovalent (Yb2O3, Nd2O3, and Lu2O3) and heterovalent (ZrO2 and HfO2) components are synthesized, and their spectroscopic properties are investigated. Possible channels of losses in the gain of stimulated radiation in the radiative transitions of Nd3+ and Yb3+ ions in ceramics with heterovalent additives are studied. The results of measurements of Y2O3 ceramics doped with zirconium and hafnium ions, the emission bandwidth and the lifetimes of the 4F3/2 and 2F5/2 levels of Nd3+ and Yb3+ ions, respectively, are presented. It is shown that the nonradiative population of the 4F3/2 levels of neodymium ions is due to their dipole-dipole interaction with Zr3+ and Hf3+ ions. Laser generation in [(Yb0.01Lu0.24Y0.75)2O3]0.88(ZrO2)0.12 ceramics with disordered crystalline structure was achieved at a wavelength of 1034 nm with a differential efficiency of 29%.
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