Recent Progress in Ceramic YAG Cladding Technology for Fiber Laser Applications

摘要

The advent of high energy, high power fiber lasers hinges on the availability of new fibers and suitable cladding materials. New fiber materials with the needed thermal and optical properties are urgently needed for high powered fiber lasers; a viable cladding process using suitable cladding materials is equally critical. These two fundamental technologies are being developed. Most recently, the technical feasibility of applying optically transparent undoped YAG as the fiber cladding was explored via a single source electron beam deposition process. The technical feasibility of depositing such fiber claddings was successfully demonstrated on various model fibers. Amorphous Y_xAl_(1-x)O_3 coatings with various chemistries and high optical transmittances were deposited and shown to be stable even after high temperature annealing, while retaining the optical quality.