High Thermal conductivity aluminum nitride ceramics for high energy laser gain media
Abstract
Abstract:This project proposed aims to produce improved gain materials for high energy lasers. It is designed specifically to reduce the crucial thermal gradient problem in diode pumped high energy lasers. The development of gain materials with significantly higher k is consistent with the ONR and HEL-JTO~s mission to improve the power available HEL directed energy applications. Our strategy is to replace the traditional cubic oxides with a much higher conductivity Al2O3 and aluminum nitride (AlN). The potential performance gains are tremendous since our rare earth doped AlN ceramics will have thermal conductivities up to 30 times larger than the state of the art materials (e. g. Nd:YAG). We will concentrate on Er doping to produce lasing at 1.5 micrometers an eye-safer wavelength. We will ensure very low scattering losses by magnetically aligning thegrains in the ceramics. Additionally we will use non uniform rare earth doping (gradient ceramic) to further tune the thermal gradients and optical properties of the ceramics. Our processi"ng technology is scalable and should be easily translatable to industry, leading to a reliable domestic supply of our technology.O"ur team is comprised of researchers from UC San Diego and UC Berkeley. This project contains both modeling and experimental efforts" and is highly interdisciplinary; our team has expertise in materials chemistry, materials processing, materials microstructural and"" optical characterization, thermal transport, and laser engineering.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Jun 09, 2017
- Source ID
- N000141712594
Entities
People
- Javier E Garay
Organizations
- Office of Naval Research
- United States Navy
- University of California, San Diego