Depolarization resulting from thermally induced birefringence in Nd:YAG ceramics has been investigated. The amount of depolarization in the ceramics is nearly the same as that in (lll)-cut single crystals at the same Nd~(3+) concentration. On the other hand, the depolarization becomes larger for more concentrated Nd~(3+)-doped samples even at the same absorbed power in the condition of non-lasing. Lasing the media, however, can drastically reduce the depolarization loss.
展开▼
