High power 1640-nm Er:Y2O3 ceramic laser at room temperature

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates the first room-temperature high-power Er:Y2O3 ceramic laser at 1640 nm, achieving over 10 W CW output with 25% efficiency, using a low-loss, co-precipitated ceramic sample.

Contribution

It presents the first room-temperature operation of a high-power Er:Y2O3 ceramic laser at 1640 nm with notable output power and efficiency.

Findings

Achieved 10.2 W CW output power at 1640 nm

Demonstrated 25% slope efficiency

First room-temperature operation of this laser type

Abstract

We report on high power operation of Er:Y2O3 ceramic laser at ~1.6 {\mu}m using low scattering loss, 0.25 at.% Er3+ doped ceramic sample fabricated in-house via co-precipitation process. The laser is in-band pumped by an Er, Yb fiber laser at 1535.6 nm and generates 10.2 W of continuous-wave (CW) output power at 1640.4 nm with a slope efficiency of 25% with respect to the absorbed pump power. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first demonstration of ~1.6 {\mu}m Er:Y2O3 laser at room temperature. The prospects for further scaling in output power and lasing efficiency via low Er3+ doping and reduced energy-transfer upconversion are discussed.