1. Material jet printing of transparent ceramic Yb:YAG planar waveguides
- Author
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Stephen A. Payne, Thomas J. Rudzik, Zachary M. Seeley, A. Drobshoff, Ian R. Phillips, and Nerine J. Cherepy
- Subjects
Jet (fluid) ,Materials science ,business.industry ,Slope efficiency ,Gain ,Sintering ,02 engineering and technology ,021001 nanoscience & nanotechnology ,Cladding (fiber optics) ,01 natural sciences ,Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics ,010309 optics ,Core (optical fiber) ,Optics ,Planar ,visual_art ,0103 physical sciences ,visual_art.visual_art_medium ,Ceramic ,0210 nano-technology ,business - Abstract
A new, to the best of our knowledge, 3D additive manufacturing technique utilizing particle-loaded ink jet printing to fabricate transparent ceramic Yb:YAG planar waveguides for laser gain media was demonstrated. Rheological optimization of YAG particle-loaded inks resulted in successful droplet formation and printing resolution. Planar waveguides composed of a Yb:YAG guide encased in undoped YAG cladding were printed with guide thicknesses ranging between 25 and 350 µm and consolidated to high optical quality via solid-state sintering. Sufficiently low optical (1–3%/cm) and intermodal scatter allowed single-mode propagation with a core/clad index difference of Δ n ∼ 5.0 × 10 − 4 (corresponding to 3 at.% Yb). The waveguides were cladding-pumped longitudinally with a 940 nm diode array resulting in 23.6% slope efficiency in 2 ms pulsed operation.
- Published
- 2021
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