Laser Crystals and Components

Teledyne FLIR is a global leader in single crystal laser gain media, passive Q-switches and quantum memory materials. Our products play pivotal roles in a wide range of high performance industrial, medical, scientific and defense technologies around the world.

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Ce:LuAG

Laser Materials

LuAG (Lutetium Aluminum Garnet) is of particular interest as a material for diode pumped solid-state lasers employing active ions such as Yb, Tm, Er, and Ho. This host has the smallest lattice constant of the rare earth garnets and the resulting crystal field in LuAG yields narrower linewidths and higher absorption and emission cross-sections. The net effect is higher efficiency laser devices.

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Ce:YAG

Laser Materials

Cerium doped YAG is a chemically inert non-hygroscopic inorganic scintillator well matched to charge-coupled device (CCD) sensitivity with peak emission of 550nm. Ce:YAG is commonly used as a phosphor in cathode ray tubes and white light-emitting diodes.

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Ce:YAP

Laser Materials

Teledyne FLIR Laser Crystals and Components offers high quality Yttrium Orthoaluminate, also referred to as yttrium aluminum perovskite (YAP), doped with Tm, Nd, Pr, Er and Cr.

YAP´s hardness and thermal conductivity are similar to YAG, but exhibits a highly anisotropic thermal expansion coefficient and is birefringent. YAP is an orthorhombic negative biaxial crystal belonging to the D162h (Pnma) space group. Emission wavelengths are polarized, and emission and absorption cross sections are dependent upon the crystallographic orientation. Teledyne FLIR Laser Crystals and Components (along with references [1] and [3] below), use the Pnma space group convention for defining the crystallographic a, b, and c-axis lattice constants. Others (including reference [2]) use the Pbnm convention. In the table below, we related the two conventions thru their common lattice constants.

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Co:Spinel PASSIVE Q-SWITCH

Laser Materials

Cobalt-doped magnesium aluminate (Spinel) is a solid-state passive Q-Switch material working in the 1200nm - 1600nm range. Solid-State passive Q-Switches generating high power laser pulses are attractive because they allow for the development of compact low-cost laser sources without the need for a high voltage power supply. Erbium Glass lasers emitting in the 1.5μm are of great interest for being in eye safe wavelength region with applications include dermatology systems, laser surgery, range-finding, environmental sensing, telecommunications, and Lidar.
Passive Q-Switches are specified by initial transmission at the wavelength of interest.

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Cr⁴⁺:YAG PASSIVE Q-SWITCH

Laser Materials

C⁴⁺:YAG has become the solid-state passive Q-switch material of choice for 1 micron laser systems, offering several significant advantages over active acousto-optic and electro-optic devices, including:

• Eliminates the need for a high voltage power supply
• Reduce packaging size and weight
• Improved reliability and a longer lifetime in 1064 nm Nd:YAG lasers.
• Readily fabricated into high optical quality OEM components.

A small fraction of the chromium ions in YAG can be induced to change valence from the normal Cr³⁺ to Cr⁴⁺ with the addition of charge compensating impurities such as Mg²⁺ or Ca²⁺. The best measure of the Cr⁴⁺ concentration is the low power absorption coefficient alpha at 1064 nm. The typical values of alpha vary from 1-7 cm-1 for passive Q-switch applications. References 1)

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CTH:YAG

Laser Materials

Triple doped Cr³⁺,Tm³⁺, Ho³⁺:YAG is an efficient solid-state laser medium for 2097nm generation, widely used in military, medicine, and remote sensing applications. High spectral overlap of pump radiation (lamp or diode) with the Cr³⁺ and Tm³⁺ absorption bands, and a highly efficient conversion from the absorption bands into the ⁵I₇ -> ⁵I₈ Ho³⁺ emission band, enables 2 micron laser architectures with high quantum efficiency. [1], [2]

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Er:YAG

Laser Materials

Highly doped (50%) Erbium YAG is a well-known laser source for producing 2940nm emission, commonly used in medical [1] (e.g. cosmetic skin resurfacing), and dental [2] (e.g., oral surgery) applications due to the strong water and hydroxyapatite absorption at this wavelength.

Low doped (< 1%) Erbium YAG has been studied as an efficient means to generate high power and high energy 1.6 micron ‘eye-safe’ laser emission thru 2 level resonant pumping schemes. In these systems, fiber or diode lasers pump the ~1.5 micron ⁴I₁₅⸝₂ − > ⁴I₁₃⸝₂ absorption band, where non-radiative coupling between stark levels allows 1.6 micron laser emission with quantum efficiencies in excess of 90% [3].

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Gallium Garnet

Laser Materials

Teledyne FLIR Laser Crystals and Components offers a variety of gallium garnet laser materials for your production and/or R&D efforts.

Dopant/Host combinations previously studied include:

• YSGG - Er, Cr activated YSGG is used in lamp pumped medical applications[1]
• GSGG - Nd, Cr activated GSGG is used for high transfer efficiency lamp pumped systems [2], [3]
• GGG
• TGG
• YGG
• LuGG

Gallium Garnet crystals are available with a variety of dopant ions including Er, Cr, Nd, Yb, Ce, Pr, Eu, Ho, & Tm.

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Ho:YAG

Laser Materials

Ho³⁺ ions doped into insulating laser crystals have exhibited 14 inter-manifold laser channels, operating in temporal modes from CW to mode-locked [1]. Ho:YAG is commonly used as an efficient means to generate 2.1-μm laser emission from the ⁵I₇ - ⁵I₈ transition, for applications such as laser remote sensing, medical surgery, and pumping Mid-IR OPO’s to achieve 3-5micron emission. Direct diode pumped systems [2], [3] and Tm: Fiber Laser pumped systems[4] have demonstrated hi slope efficiencies, some approaching the theoretical limit.

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Host/Dopant Combinations

Custom Materials Development

The Teledyne FLIR crystal and laser components group has grown a wide range of specialty and hard to find laser materials, including:

• Mixed garnet materials for compositional wavelength tuning.
• Gallium Garnet material such as YGG, GGG, GSGG, YSGG
• Not finding what you are looking for?

Ask us about our Custom Material Development Programs.

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Nd:YAG

Laser Materials

The first operation of yttrium aluminum garnet doped with tri-valent Neodymium as a laser gain media was demonstrated at Bell Labs in 1964 [1]. Today, Nd:YAG has achieved a position of dominance among solid-state laser materials, being the most widely used lasing medium world-wide, with applications spanning medical, industrial, military and scientific markets. Nd:YAG lasers typically emit infrared light at 1064nm - however other transitions near 940, 1120, 1320, and 1440 nm are also used [2].

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Space Grade Nd:YAG

Laser Materials

Teledyne FLIR’s radiation hardened “Space Grade” Nd:YAG is designed to handle the harsh high-energy environment of space, and has been the laser gain material of choice for several missions including: Exo Mars Rover 2022 (ESA), Lisa gravitational wave interferometer (ESA, NASA), and Osiris-Rex (NASA).

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TGG

Laser Materials

Terbium Gallium Garnet (TGG) is an excellent magneto-optical crystal used for optical isolator and rotator devices in the range of 400nm-1100nm, excluding 470-500nm. TGG has a high Verdet constant resulting in the Faraday effect making it most suitable for Faraday devices.

Advantages include:

• High Verdet Constant (35 Rad T⁻¹ m⁻¹)
• Thermal Conductivity (7.4W m⁻¹ K⁻¹)
• Low optical losses (<0.1%/cm)

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Tm:YAG

Laser Materials

Tm:YAG is used as an efficient means to generate high power 2.01 micron laser emission from the ³F₄ - ³H₆ transition, for surgical cutting and coagulation applications due to the high water absorption at this wavelength [1]. Diode pumping is commonly employed into the 785nm ³H₆-³H₄ absorption feature. Of interest in Tm³⁺ activated systems is the increased quantum efficiency obtained thru Tm-Tm ion cross relaxation; a non-radiative process where an excited Thulium in the ³H₄ state (energy level around 12900 cm −1 ) decays to the ³F₄ state (energy level around 6000 cm −1 ) and a nearest neighbor ground-state Thulium ion is promoted to the ³F₄ level, along with phonon byproduct to satisfy energy conservation [2]. Thus, in appropriate concentrations, a single Thulium ion excited to the ³H₄ level generates two Thulium ions in the ³F₄ upper laser level.

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Tm:YAP

Laser Materials

Teledyne FLIR Laser Crystals and Components offers high quality Yttrium Orthoaluminate, also referred to as yttrium aluminum perovskite (YAP), doped with Tm, Nd, Pr, Er and Cr.

YAP´s hardness and thermal conductivity are similar to YAG, but exhibits a highly anisotropic thermal expansion coefficient and is birefringent. YAP is an orthorhombic negative biaxial crystal belonging to the D162h (Pnma) space group. Emission wavelengths are polarized, and emission and absorption cross sections are dependent upon the crystallographic orientation. Teledyne FLIR Laser Crystals and Components (along with references [1] and [3] below), use the Pnma space group convention for defining the crystallographic a, b, and c-axis lattice constants. Others (including reference [2]) use the Pbnm convention. In the table below, we related the two conventions thru their common lattice constants.

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Undoped YAG & LuAG Crystal Optics

Custom Laser Optics

YAG & LuAG provide significant advantages for MIR medical & high energy UV materials processing applications. Benefits include:

• High Transparency
• High refractive index
• Non-birefringent
• High damage threshold
• High thermal conductivity
• Chemically & mechanically robust

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Yb:LuAG

Laser Materials

LuAG (Lutetium Aluminum Garnet) is of particular interest as a material for diode pumped solid-state lasers employing active ions such as Yb, Tm, Er, and Ho. This host has the smallest lattice constant of the rare earth garnets and the resulting crystal field in LuAG yields narrower linewidths and higher absorption and emission cross-sections. The net effect is higher efficiency laser devices.

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Yb:YAG

Laser Materials

Crystals doped with trivalent ytterbium (Yb³⁺) have demonstrated significant potential for application in compact, efficient, diode-pumped laser systems.[1-4] The Yb³⁺ ion has only two manifolds, the ground ²F₇⸝₂ and the excited ²F₅⸝₂ which are separated by approximately 10,000 cm⁻¹. As a result, Yb³⁺ doped materials have spectroscopic and laser properties that are advantageous for high energy 1 μm laser systems. In particular, Yb³⁺ doped materials should not suffer from concentration quenching, upconversion, or excited state absorption. The Yb³⁺ion also has a long energy storage lifetime (typically three to four times that of Nd³⁺ in the same host) and a very small quantum defect which reduces heat generation during lasing.

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YSO

Laser Materials

YSO (Yttrium Orthosilicate) is a monoclinic biaxial crystal belonging to the C2/c (C6 2h) space group. Rare earth ions substitute for the Y³⁺ ions which occupy two crystallographic sites of C1 symmetry. Emission and absorption spectra for rare earth dopants are polarized and generally have higher cross-sections when compared to YAG.
Crystals of Y₂SiO₅ are available with a variety of dopant ions including Ce, Pr, Nd, Eu, Tb, Ho, Er, Tm, Tm:Ho, Ce and Cr.
Eu³⁺ and Er³⁺ activated YSO exhibit very narrow homogeneously broadened absorption line widths (sub kHz), embedded within a broader (–GHz) inhomogeneously broadened line, when cooled to cryogenic temperatures. Er³⁺:YSO was shown to have a homogeneous optical resonance width of only 73 Hz, the narrowest atomic resonance observed in any solid state material[1].

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