Anisotropic Microstructurally-Engineered Polycrystals for Increased Laser Energy (AMPLE)

Abstract

The overall goal of this project is to replace the typical cubic oxides traditionally used as gain media with a much higher conductivity rare earth (RE) doped aluminum nitride (AlN), i.e. to develop RE: doped aluminum nitride ceramics as viable lasing media. Our approach is to consolidate nitride powder to full density without significantly increasing the grain size using current activated pressure assisted densification CAPAD. This year we made significant progress toward our goals. We have now successfully doped Tb, Nd, Eb and Tm into Al2O3 and AlN and demonstrated emission over the entire range of 1 to 2 micrometers. Perhaps the biggest accomplishments over the past year was demonstrating and quantifying optical gain in our ceramics, proving that they are viable laser ceramics.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
May 17, 2018
Accession Number
AD1060673

Entities

People

  • Javier E Garay

Organizations

  • University of California, Riverside

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Energy and Power Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Aluminum Oxides
  • Converters
  • Crystal Structure
  • Crystals
  • Emission Spectra
  • Grain Boundaries
  • Laser Applications
  • Lasers
  • Light Sources
  • Materials
  • Measurement
  • Optical Properties
  • Optics
  • Polycrystals
  • Scattering
  • Spectra
  • Temperature Gradients

Fields of Study

  • Materials science

Readers

  • Distributed Systems and Data Platform Development
  • Materials Science and Engineering.
  • Powder metallurgy of Titanium alloys.

Technology Areas

  • Directed Energy