title: Laser-diode pumped heavy-doped Yb:YAG ceramic lasers.
abstract: Laser performance of heavy-doped Yb:YAG ceramics was investigated using a two-pass pumping miniature laser configuration. Slope efficiency of 52% and optical-to-optical efficiency of 48% have been achieved for 1-mm-thick YAG ceramic doped with 20 at.% ytterbium ions. Laser spectra of Yb:YAG ceramic and single-crystal lasers were addressed under different intracavity laser intensities. Heavy-doped Yb:YAG ceramic is more suitable for a thin disk laser than a single-crystal with the same Yb(3+)-ion lasants.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Laser Science, University of Electro-Communications, 1-5-1 Chofugaoka, Chofu, Tokyo 182-8585, Japan. jundong_99@yahoo.com
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Dong
authors.forename: Akira
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Shirakawa
authors.forename: Ken-Ichi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ueda
authors.forename: Hideki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yagi
authors.forename: Takagimi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Yanagitani
authors.forename: Alexander A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Kaminskii