Description:
Er:Yb:glass Erbium and ytterbium co-doped phosphate glass
Erbium Glass doped with Er3+, Yb3+, and Cr3+, Erbium-doped glass laser provides a useful, coherent source in the spectral range near 1.5 μm, which is relatively safe for the human eye. It is convenient in many applications, such as lidar and range measurements, fiber-optic communication, and laser surgery. Despite the considerable progress in developing InGaAs laser diode pump sources, Xe flashlamps will continue to be used as pump sources of Er: glass lasers because of their high reliability and low cost and the simplicity of design of such systems. Since about half the flashlamp radiation energy is emitted in the visible and near-infrared (IR) ranges, a second sensitizer, Cr3+, is introduced into Yb-Er laser glasses to utilize this energy.
Features of Erbium Glass (Er,Cr,Yb: Glass):
- High laser efficiency
- Low laser threshold
- Safe for human eye
- High light conversion
Phosphate glass combines a long lifetime (~8 ms) of 4I13/2 Er3+ upper laser level with a low (2–3 ms) lifetime of 4I11/2Er3+ level that is in resonance with Yb3+ 2F5/2 excited state. Fast non-radiative multi-phonon relaxation from 4I11/2 to 4I13/2 level greatly decreases the back-energy transfer and up-conversion losses due to the interaction between Yb3+ and Er3+ ions, excited at the 2F5/2 and the 4I11/2 levels, respectively.
As an eye-safe wavelength laser, 1540um ,Er3+/Yb3+ co-doped phosphate glass lasers have attracted much attention for their compactness and low cost, such as laser generation and signal amplification because the wavelength of 1540nm is just at the position of the eye-safe and the fiber optic communication window. 1540nm lasers have used in ranging finder, radar, target recognition. Er3+/Yb3+ co-doped phosphate glass cooperate with passive Q-Switch crystal cospinel can get 1540nm pulse solid-state laser.
Optical and laser properties of Er:Yb:glass
| Cross section for stimulated emission (10-20cm2) | 0.8 |
| Fluorescent lifetime (ms) | 7.7-8.0 |
| Center lasing wavelength (nm) | 1535 |
| Refractive index (1535nm) | 1.524 |
| Refractive index (d 589.3nm) | 1.532 |
| Abbe value | 66 |
| dn/dT (10-6/℃) (20~100℃) | -1.72 |
| Transformation temp. (℃) | 556 |
| Softening temp. (℃) | 605 |
| Coeff.of linear thermal expansion (10-7/K) (20~100℃) | 87 |
| Coeff.of linear thermal expansion (10-7/K) (100~300℃) | 95 |
| Thermal Coeff.of optical path length (10-6/K) (20~100℃) | 2.9 |
| Thermal conductivity (25℃) (W/mK) | 0.7 |
| Density (g/cm3) | 3.06 |
| Chemical durability (weigh loss rate at 100℃ distilled water) (μg/hr.cm2) |
52 |
AOST offers Er:Yb:glass specifications:
| Dimension Tolerances： | rods with diameter: +0.0/-0.05 mm , Length: ±0.1 mm |
| Surface Quality: | 10/5 Scratch/Dig MIL-O-1380A |
| Parallelism: | < 10″ |
| Perpendicularity: | < 5′ |
| Clear Aperture: | > 90% |
| Wavefront Distortion: | λ/4 per inch @ 632.8 nm |
| Surface Flatness: | < λ/8 @ 632.8 nm |
| Chamfer: | < 0.1 mm @ 45o |
| Barrel Finish | 50-80 micro-inch (RMS) , |
| Size | Upon customer request |
| Coating | AR/HR oating upon customer’s request |
| Damage Threshold | 750MW/CM2 at 1064nm, TEM00, 10ns, 10Hz |
| Quality Warranty Period | One year under proper use |
