CW and tunable performances of Yb 3+ :LuAG transparent ceramics with different doping concentrations

Abstract We report the CW laser operation and wavelength tunability of 10 at%, 15 at% and 20 at% Yb 3+ -doping LuAG ceramics pumped at 970 nm. The absorption saturation effects were taken into account herein. For 10 at% Yb 3+ -doping sample, the maximum slop efficiency and output power was 60.7% and 1.8 W, respectively. Furthermore, the slop efficiencies of 52.3% (15 at%) and 46.5% (20 at%) were reported. What's more, the maximum optical-to-optical efficiency for our samples was determined to be 40.1%, 36.8%, and 33.1% at the incident pump power of 4 W, respectively. The round-trip cavity loss of the laser system based on our Yb 3+ :LuAG ceramics were evaluated. The tuning curve of a 20 at% Yb 3+ :LuAG ceramic extended from 1018 nm up to 1062 nm, and that of 10 at% and 15 at% samples became much more broader, making Yb 3+ :LuAG ceramics possible candidates for ultrashort pulse generation.