High melting sesquioxides: crystal growth, spectroscopy, and laser experiments

Due to their high thermal conductivity the sesquioxides Sc2O3, Y2O3, and Lu2O3 are interesting host materials for high power laser applications. Furthermore the strong crystal field of these host lattices is especially favourable for quasi-four-level systems such as the trivalent ytterbium ion, Several lanthanide-doped yttria, scandia, and lutetia crystals and a large boule with monocrystalline areas of a few cm(3) in volume have been prepared at our institute by the Bridgman method. The grown crystals exhibit promising features for laser operation. Here, we report on the spectroscopic characterization and first diode-pumped laser experiments with ytterbium-doped lutetia. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.