Laser demonstration of Yb/sub 3/Al/sub 5/O/sub 12/ (YbAG) and materials properties of highly doped Yb:YAG

We have demonstrated the first stoichiometric Yb/sup 3+/ laser based on Yb/sub 3/A/sub 5/O/sub 12/ (YbAG). The laser operated in pulsed mode with a highest possible duty cycle of 85%. A slope efficiency of 27%, with respect to absorbed energy, was measured and the free-running lasing wavelength was 1048 nm for a 10% duty cycle. In a systematic analysis, measurements of spectroscopic and materials properties of (Yb/sub x/Y/sub 1-x/)/sub 3/Al/sub 5/O/sub 12/ for nominal x values of 0.05, 0.1, 0.15, 0.18, 0.25, 0.5, and 1 are reported. We also present a formalism to calculate the intrinsic fluorescence quantum efficiency (free of radiation trapping) and the fraction of reabsorbed light, based on measurements of the bulk and intrinsic emission lifetimes and the fractional thermal loading. Our best YbAG sample has an intrinsic lifetime of 0.664 ms at 94% quantum efficiency and a thermal conductivity at room temperature of 0.072 W/(cm-K).