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Glasses for Optical Amplifiers and Lasers

 

According to the definition given in the IUPAC Compendium of Chemical Terminology (1997), "a glass laser is a solid state laser in which the active medium is a glass host that supports the active species". Neodimium, ytterbium, holmium, thulium, and erbium are common dopants in glass lasers. Neodymium glass lasers are used in extremely high power (terawatt scale). 

More recently, with the use of glass fibers and integrated optical circuits doped with rare earth ions, much interest has been devoted also to the development of guided-wave optical amplifiers.

EFONGA is willing to provide a reference to papers published in the scientific journals on the subject of rare-earth-doped glasses for optical amplifiers and lasers. While it is very difficult to achive the goal of a fully exhaustive list, HERE we have a compilation of references which is continuosly updated.   We would appreciate the readers' help: please send a mail to info@efonga.org indicating a reference that you consider noteworthy (needed format: authors, title, full bibliographic reference, up to 5 keywords).

For what concerns the books on the subject one can refer, for instance, to the following ones:

  1. E. Desurvire, Erbium-Doped Fiber Amplifiers, Principles and Applications (John Wiley, New York) 1994.

  2. M. J. F. Digonnet, Rare-Earth-Doped Fiber Lasers and Amplifiers (Marcel Dekker, Inc.) 2001.

  3. R. Reisfeld and C. K. Jorgensen, Lasers and Excited States of Rare Earths (Springer, Berlin) 1977.

  4. F. Gan, Lasers Materials (World Scientific, Singapore) 1995.

  5. P. C. Becker, N. A. Olsson and J. R. Simpson, Erbium Doped Fibre Amplifiers: Fundamentals and Technology (Academic Press, San Diego) 1999.

  6. J. Zschokke (Editor), Optical Spectroscopy of Glasses (Springer, Berlin) 1981.

  7. J. S. Hayden and N. Neuroth, in H. Bach and N. Neuroth (Editors), The Properties of Optical Glasses (Springer Verlag, Berlin) 1988.

Reprints of two review papers are available on request by writing to info@efonga.org:

  1. G. C. Righini and M. Ferrara, Photoluminescence of rare-earth-doped glasses, La Rivista del Nuovo Cimento, v. 28, s. 4, n.12 (2005)

  2. G. C. Righini, Rare-earth-doped glasses for integrated optical amplifiers, in Photonic Glasses ch. 5, pp. 89-113, (Kerala, India) 2006.

Moreover, a short list of companies which produce glasses doped with rare earths is given in the following.  Indications about additional manufacturers would be most welcome (please send a mail to info@efonga.org).

 

 

American Elements produces Cerium, Erbium, Neodymium, and Praseodymium-based glass and optical products: http://www.americanelements.com/glassproducts.html.  

 

Kigre Inc. manufactures components for customized "plug-in" applications, and also produces Neodymium and Erbium based glass: http://www.kigre.com/glass.shtm

 

Lytkarino Optical Glass Factory manufactures laser glass types in silicate and phosphate base compositions that are used for science, technology, medical and special laser systems fabrication: http://www.lzos.ru/en/glass_laser.htm.

 

MolTech produces activated phosphate laser glasses:

Chromium-Ytterbium-Erbium activated glasses are designed for maximal efficiency (up to 2.5 - 3.0 % in free running) under Xe flash lamp pumping in the regime of rare pulses.

Neodymium-Ytterbium-Erbium activated laser glasses are designed for efficient (up to 2.0 - 2.5 %) flashlamp pumped operation in case of repetitive pulses. Heat dissipation in them is lower than that in Chromium-containing glasses and they exhibit no temperature decrease of lasing parameters.

Concentrated Ytterbium-Erbium phosphate laser glasses for laser diode pumped operation. Lasing wavelengths - 1.05 and 1.35 µm. These glasses have extremely high (4 x 1021 cm-3) Ytterbium ions content resulting in high absorption coefficient of InGaAs Laser diode radiation (up to 35 cm-1 at the peak at 975 nm). Erbium content can be varied depending on the customers demands (typically (3 - 5) x 1019 cm-3 for side pumping and (1.5 - 2) x 1020 cm-3 for microchip lasers). Availability - rods or plates according to customer's demands with appropriate antireflection or reflective coatings.

Concentrated Nd phosphate glass with lowered concentration luminescence quenching. Lasing wavelengths - 1.05 and 1.35 µm.

Erbium activated phosphate laser glass. Lasing wavelength - 1.54     µm

           http://www.mt-berlin.com/frames_cryst/descriptions/phglass.htm

 

Schott offers a wide variety of solutions to engineers seeking active and passive glass-based materials for laser applications.

Phosphate compositions for high energy applications: LG750, LG760, LG770 are glasses that have been developed to meet the needs of the high-energy solid-state laser community.

Phosphate based laser glass for high power and ultra-short pulse applications: APG1 and APG2 have enhanced thermal mechanical properties desirable in high average power applications.

Silicate composition: LG680 is the classic laser glass that features a high cross-section, high ultraviolet transmission, and high resistance to solarization.

Active Glass for Integrated Optic Applications: IOG1 was developed specifically for compatibility with known sodium ion exchange technologies for fabrication of active guided wave structures. IOG2 was developed specifically for high gain applications not using ion exchange technology. These glasses have particularly found applications with such rare earth ions as erbium, ytterbium, praseodymium, and their combinations.

Passive Glasses IOG10 was developed specifically for compatibility with known ion exchange technologies for fabrication of passive guided wave structures.

Laser Cavity Materials: S7010N and S7005 are samarium-doped glasses that block the 1.06 mm wavelength and UV pump light from neodymium lasing elements, such as Nd:YAG or Nd:glass rods and slabs. S7000 is a clear, cerium-doped glass that serves as a UV cutoff material.

Zerodur® exhibits a near-zero coefficient of thermal expansion over a fairly wide temperature range. It possesses exceptional long-term dimensional stability and is thus suitable for precision applications within laser systems: http://www.us.schott.com/optics_devices/english/products/laserglass.html.  

 
LLG, the laboratory for laser glass of SIOM, CAS (China), offers a full serial of laser glass products for laser system ,including Nd3+ doped phosphate laser  glass, Er3+doped laser glass,Yb3+-doped borate laser glass,  Magneto-optic (Faraday Rotatory)  glass, glass beads etc.:

High-power laser glass (Nd doped phosphate glass): widely used in high average power laser solid state lasers, laser material processing, range finder etc.

Erbium laser glass: medical applications, military applications.

Ytterbium laser glass: ultrashort pulse and tunable laser sources

Faraday Rotator glass magneto-optical isolator, switch, modulator and sensor.

Telecom materials

N21: N21- an Nd3+:phosphate glass is specially developed for the LF1# and LF2# Laser Facility.

N31: N31－a new Nd3+: phosphate glass is specially developed for the LF12# Laser Facility－at present the most powerful laser facility in China（also called“Shengguang”)

http://www.laserglass.com.cn/english-page/index/product.htm

 

Yaguang is a large optical glass manufacturer. Its products include holmium doped glasses                                   http://www.ygofg.com/Holmium_glass.htm.

 

                                                         © EFONGA gcr 2006
Website established on 31-01-2006; updated on 9 August 2007.