Engineered crystal layers grown by pulsed laser deposition: making bespoke planar gain-media devices

Abstract

Pulsed laser deposition (PLD) is a non-thermal-equilibrium epitaxial crystal growth technique that enables the fabrication of thin optically active materials suitable for waveguide or thin-disk laser media. In recent years, a dramatic improvement in PLD-grown crystal-film quality has been reported, defined by the improving optical-optical efficiencies in a planar waveguide laser setup (Figure 1-left). These results cover a range of novel host materials for rare-earth ions, such as garnets, sesquioxides, and more recently sapphire. High-quality crystal materials are paramount for efficient laser sources. Moreover, in power-scaling laser architectures, the thermal loading density is tending to extreme levels and materials with excellent thermomechanical and thermo-optical properties are essential. Through PLD, we are exploring novel materials and composite designs that have the potential to be bespoke gain elements, engineered for enhanced spectroscopic and physical properties. &more...

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Identifiers

ORCID for Jacob Mackenzie: orcid.org/0000-0002-3355-6051

ORCID for James Grant-Jacob: orcid.org/0000-0002-4270-4247

ORCID for David Shepherd: orcid.org/0000-0002-4561-8184

ORCID for Robert Eason: orcid.org/0000-0001-9704-2204

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