Fabrication of er-doped sesquioxide laser ceramics and their laser performance

• Main Author: Ni, Meng
• Other Authors: Tang Dingyuan
• Format: Thesis-Doctor of Philosophy
• Language: English
• Published: Nanyang Technological University 2023
• Subjects: Engineering::Electrical and electronic engineering
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/167936
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

In this work, detailed studies on the powder synthesis, microstructure evolution and sintering strategy for sesquioxide transparent ceramics were conducted. The combination of chemical co-precipitation method and suitable dispersant - poly acrylic acid, provided a good solution to fabricate the initial powders with low level agglomeration, good dispersity and high sinterability. The influences of air pre-sintering on the fabrication of high optical quality Yb3+-doped yttria laser ceramics were experimentally investigated. High quality 3 at. % Yb3+:Y2O3 laser ceramics with small average grain size, uniform microstructures and good laser performance were fabricated. Through optimizing the powder quality and sintering strategy, high quality eye-safe 0.25 at.% Er:Y2O3 laser ceramics were fabricated and laser oscillation at 1640 nm was firstly realized. CW lasing performance of the ceramics was characterized, which showed a maximum output power of 6.0 W and a slope efficiency of 23.2%.