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• Sanghera, J
• Kim, W
• Villalobos, G
• Shaw, B
• Baker, C
• Frantz, J
• Sadowski, B
• Aggarwal, I
• [+] on Google Scholar
• Sanghera, J
• Kim, W
• Villalobos, G
• Shaw, B
• Baker, C
• Frantz, J
• Sadowski, B
• Aggarwal, I
• [+] on PubMed
• Sanghera, J
• Kim, W
• Villalobos, G
• Shaw, B
• Baker, C
• Frantz, J
• Sadowski, B
• Aggarwal, I

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Materials 2012, 5(2), 258-277; doi:10.3390/ma5020258

Review

Ceramic Laser Materials

Jasbinder Sanghera ^1,* , Woohong Kim ^1,* , Guillermo Villalobos ¹ , Brandon Shaw ¹ , Colin Baker ¹ , Jesse Frantz ¹ , Bryan Sadowski ²  and Ishwar Aggarwal ²

¹ US Naval Research Lab, Washington, DC 20375, USA ² Sotera Defense Solutions, Crofton, MD 21114, USA

* Authors to whom correspondence should be addressed.

Received: 26 December 2011 / Accepted: 1 February 2012 / Published: 9 February 2012

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Laser Materials)

Download PDF Full-Text [3948 KB, Updated Version, uploaded 10 February 2012 16:13 CET]

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Abstract: Ceramic laser materials have come a long way since the first demonstration of lasing in 1964. Improvements in powder synthesis and ceramic sintering as well as novel ideas have led to notable achievements. These include the first Nd:yttrium aluminum garnet (YAG) ceramic laser in 1995, breaking the 1 KW mark in 2002 and then the remarkable demonstration of more than 100 KW output power from a YAG ceramic laser system in 2009. Additional developments have included highly doped microchip lasers, ultrashort pulse lasers, novel materials such as sesquioxides, fluoride ceramic lasers, selenide ceramic lasers in the 2 to 3 μm region, composite ceramic lasers for better thermal management, and single crystal lasers derived from polycrystalline ceramics. This paper highlights some of these notable achievements.

Keywords: ceramics; laser materials; 100 KW; microchip lasers; ultrashort pulse; ceramic composites; non-oxide ceramics

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