SBIR Phase I: Yb:KGW for High Power and Ultrafast Lasers

该小型企业研究（SBIR）第一阶段项目将确定通过良好控制高质量晶体的晶体生长，精确测量关键材料特性以及外推性能和可制造性，将Yb：KGW激光器扩展到高功率和高光束质量的可行性。掺镱（Yb）激光器由于在900-980 nm光谱范围内通过市售二极管激光器的有效二极管泵浦而对于高功率应用是有吸引力的。Yb：KGW的有趣之处在于可实现高Yb掺杂浓度。 更重要的是通过反斯托克斯荧光的有效自冷却和通过受激拉曼散射的光束净化的独特性质。 另一个应用是利用高峰功率的锁模飞秒脉冲的宽发射带宽，从而产生用于非线性光谱学和商业高功率脉冲源的新源。 已经从可变质量的晶体和可能的晶体组合物的有限子集中获得了外推功率缩放Yb：KGW激光器的有效性所需的关键数据。 这项技术的更广泛影响将是商业固态激光系统。 在工业、医疗和研究激光应用领域的重大进展是可以预期的。功率缩放和降低的热管理要求导致材料加工（切割，焊接，打标）中使用的高功率1 m工业激光器效率更高，成本更低。医疗激光应用包括治疗和外科激光，以及皮秒脉冲硬组织牙科激光。直接二极管泵浦允许简单的锁模超快系统，与传统的氩离子或倍频Nd：YAG泵浦的Ti：蓝宝石系统相比，具有降低的复杂性和成本。此外，1 m锁模操作扩展了Ti：Sapphire的900 nm极限，为光学参量振荡器泵浦源创造了新的可能性。

This Small Business Research (SBIR) Phase I project will determine the feasibility of scaling Yb:KGW based lasers to high powers and high beam quality through well controlled crystal growth of high quality crystals, accurate measurement of critical materials properties, and extrapolation of performance and manufacturability. Ytterbium (Yb) doped lasers are appealing for high power applications due to efficient diode pumping by commercially available diode lasers in the 900-980 nm spectral range. Yb:KGW is interesting in that high Yb doping concentrations are achievable. More significant are the unique properties of efficient self-cooling through anti-Stokes fluorescence and beam cleanup through stimulated Raman scattering. Another application exploits the wide emission bandwidth for mode-locked femtosecond pulses of high peak power leading to new sources for nonlinear spectroscopy and commercial high power pulsed sources. Critical data required to extrapolate the effectiveness of power scaling Yb:KGW lasers have been obtained from crystals of variable quality and from a limited subset of possible crystal compositions. The broader impacts of this technology would be for commercial solid state laser systems. Significant advances in the fields of industrial, medical, and research laser applications can be anticipated. Power scaling and reduced thermal management requirements lead to more efficient and lower cost high power 1m industrial lasers used in materials processing (cutting, welding, marking). Medical laser applications include therapeutic and surgical lasers, and picosecond pulse hard tissue dental lasers. Direct diode pumping allows for simple mode-locked ultrafast systems with reduced complexity and cost over conventional argon ion or frequency doubled Nd:YAG-pumped Ti:sapphire systems. In addition, the 1m mode-locked operationextends beyond the 900 nm limit of Ti:Sapphire creating new possibilities for optical parametric oscillator pump sources.