Cryogenic Yb3+-doped solid-state lasers

Cryogenically cooled solid-state lasers promise a revolution in power scalability while maintaining a good beam quality because of significant improvements in efficiency and thermo-optic properties. This is particularly true for Yb3+ lasers because of their relatively low quantum defect and relatively broadband absorption even at cryogenic temperatures. Thermo-optic properties of host materials, including thermal conductivity, thermal expansion, and refractive index at low temperature, are reviewed and data presented for YAG (ceramic and single crystal), GGG, GdVO4, and Y2O3. Spectroscopic properties of Yb:YAG and Yb:LiYF4 (YLF) including absorption cross sections, emission cross sections, and fluorescence lifetimes at cryogenic temperatures are characterized. Recent experiments have pushed the power from an end-pumped cryogenically cooled Yb:YAG laser to 455-W continuous-wave output power from 640-W incident pump power at an M-2 of 1.4.