Heriot - Watt University 1 . 9 μ m waveguide laser fabricated by ultrafast laser inscription in Tm : Lu 2 O 3 ceramic

The ultrafast laser inscription technique has been used to fabricate channel waveguides in Tm-doped Lu2O3 ceramic gain medium for the first time to our knowledge. Laser operation has been demonstrated using a monolithic microchip cavity with a continuous-wave Ti:sapphire pump source at 796 nm. The maximum output power achieved from the Tm:Lu2O3 waveguide laser was 81 mW at 1942 nm. A maximum slope efficiency of 9.5% was measured with the laser thresholds observed to be in the range of 50-200 mW of absorbed pump power. Propagation losses for this waveguide structure are calculated to be 0.7 dB⋅cm ± 0.3 dB⋅cm at the lasing wavelength. © 2017 Optical Society of America OCIS codes: (140.5680) Rare earth and transition metal solid-state lasers; (230.7370) Waveguides; (130.3120) Integrated optics devices; (140.3390) Laser materials processing. References and links 1. R. R. Gattass and E. Mazur, “Femtosecond laser micromachining in transparent materials,” Nat. 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