Laser properties of a new average-power Nd-doped phosphate glass

The Nd-doped phosphate laser glass described herein can withstand 2.3 times greater thermal loading without fracture, compared to APG-1 (commercially available Average-Power Glass from Schott Glass Technologies). The enhanced thermal loading capability is established on the basis of the intrinsic thermomechanical properties (expansion, conduction, fracture toughness, and Young's modulus), and by direct thermally induced fracture experiments using Ar-ion laser heating of the samples. This Nd-doped phosphate glass (referred to as APG-t) is found to be characterized by a 29% lower gain cross section and a 25% longer low-concentration emission lifetime. Other measurements pertaining to the concentration quenching, thermal lensing, and saturation of the extraction are also described in this article. It is note-worthy that APG-t offers increased bandwidth near the peak of the 1054 nm gain spectrum, suggesting that this material may have special utility as a means of generating and amplifying ultrashort pulses of light.