Er,Yb:YAB crystals
Main features
- Uniaxial crystal with trigonal structure
- High thermal conductivity
- Wide absorption bandwidth near 976 nm
- High absorption and emission cross-sections
- Extremely high Yb3+ to Er3+ energy transfer efficiency
Application examples
- High power eye-safe (~1,5 μm) CW lasers for metrology
- High-repetition rate passively Q-switched lasers for LIDAR and LIBS systems
- Ultrashort mode-locked lasers for telecom systems
- Description
- Properties
- Absorption and emission curves
- Standard specifications
Er3+, Yb3+ co-doped yttrium-aluminum borate (Er, Yb:YAB) crystal is an alternative to commonly used Er,Yb:phosphate glass as an active medium of “eye-safe” (1,5-1,6 µm) lasers with a high average output power in CW and pulsed modes. It is characterized by high thermal conductivities of 7,7 Wm-1K-1 and 6 Wm-1K-1 along a-axis and c-axis, respectively.
It also features a highly effective Yb3+ to Er3+ energy transfer (~94%) and weak upconversion losses due to the very short lifetime of 4I11/2 excited state (~80 ns) facilitated by high maximum phonon energy of the host material (hvmax ~1500 cm-1). A strong and wide (~17 nm) absorption band is observed at 976 nm that coincides with the emission spectrum of InGaAs laser diodes.
Spectroscopic and thermo-mechanical properties | |
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Absorption peak wavelength | 976 nm |
Absorption cross-section at peak wavelength | 2.7×10-20 cm2 |
Absorption bandwidth at peak wavelength | 17 nm |
Laser wavelength | 1522, 1531, 1543, 1550, 1602 nm |
Lifetime of 4I13/2 erbium energy level | 0.32 ms |
Emission cross-section @1531 nm | 2.5×10-20 cm2 |
Yb to Er energy transfer efficiency | >90 % |
Refractive index @632.8 nm | n0=1.7757, ne=1.7015 |
Crystal structure | trigonal |
Density | 3.84 g/cm3 |
Mohs hardness | 7.5 |
Thermal conductivity | 7.7 (//a), 6 (//c) Wm-1K-1 |
dn/dT | 1.4×10-6 (//a), 4.8×10-6 (//c) K-1 |
Thermal expansion coefficient | 2×10-6 (//a), 9.5×10-6 (//c) K-1 |
Typical doping level | 1-2 at.% [Er] 8-15 at.% [Yb] |
Er, Yb:YAB crystals | |
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Orientation | c-cut |
Clear aperture | >90% |
Face dimensions tolerance | +0,0/-0,1 mm |
Length tolerance | ±0,1 mm |
Parallelism error | <10 arcsec |
Perpendicularity error | <10 arcmin |
Protective chamfers | <0,15 mm at 45˚ |
Surface quality | 10-5 S-D |
Surface flatness | <λ/10@632,8 nm |
Coatings | AR@(R<1%)@940 nm + AR(R<0,25%)@1480-1600 nm |
Laser-induced damage threshold | >10 J/cm2@1550 nm, 10 ns |
Mount | Unmounted |