Abstract

Sesquioxides have been identified as having great potential for use as host materials for lasers due to their exceptional thermomechanical and optical properties as well as crystallographic properties well suited to the incorporation of rare-earth dopants [1]. However, fabrication of sesquioxide hosts is challenging due to their high melting points (>2400°C), making it difficult to grow high-quality crystals from a melt. Pulsed laser deposition (PLD) is a well-established method for growing thin-films of a variety of materials, including doped sesquioxides, without the need for attaining such temperatures. It is also possible to exploit the non-equilibrium process to grow crystals not readily achieved via standard techniques, such as ternary or quaternary mixtures. In this paper we report the growth and characterization of Yb-doped mixed lutetia and scandia films, which are of interest for ultra-short-pulse (USP) generation in thin-disk or waveguide lasers/amplifiers [2].

© 2017 IEEE