High-efficiency kilowatt-level continuous-wave Yb:Y₂O₃ ceramic thin-disk laser.

Area of Science:

• Laser Physics and Engineering
• Materials Science
• Optoelectronics

Background:

• High-power lasers are crucial for various scientific and industrial applications.
• Thin-disk laser architecture offers advantages in thermal management and scalability.
• Ytterbium-doped sesquioxide ceramics are promising gain media for high-power lasers due to their favorable thermal and optical properties.

Purpose of the Study:

• To demonstrate a kilowatt-class Ytterbium-doped Yttrium Oxide (Yb:Y2O3) ceramic thin-disk laser.
• To investigate the performance of Yb:Y2O3 ceramic as a gain medium in a thin-disk configuration.
• To achieve high optical-to-optical efficiency in a high-power ceramic thin-disk laser system.

Main Methods:

• Utilized a Yb:Y2O3 ceramic as the gain medium in a thin-disk laser setup.
• Employed a diamond heat sink for efficient thermal management.
• Pumping the laser medium with a 976 nm diode laser in continuous-wave (CW) operation.

Main Results:

• Achieved a continuous-wave output power of 1089 W at a wavelength of 1031.7 nm.
• Obtained an optical-to-optical efficiency of 73%.
• This represents the first kilowatt-class output from a Yb:Y2O3 ceramic gain medium and the highest reported efficiency for sesquioxide ceramic thin-disk lasers.

Conclusions:

• Yb:Y2O3 ceramic thin-disk lasers can achieve kilowatt-class output power.
• The high optical-to-optical efficiency demonstrates the potential of Yb:Y2O3 ceramics for high-power and high-efficiency laser systems.
• Diamond heat sinks are effective in enabling high-power operation of ceramic thin-disk lasers.