Spectroscopic properties of highly doped Nd:YAG ceramics

Summary form only given. Spectroscopic investigation of highly doped Nd:YAG ceramics confirms the high structural quality of the samples and indicates that these materials could be a good alternative both for microchip and high-power lasers. Although the increased Nd concentration reduces the effective lifetime of emission, this reduction is lower than the increase of efficiency due to the increased number of emitting centers. The inhomogeneous broadening caused by the perturbations inside the statistical ensembles of Nd ions in near lattice sites favors the laser diode pump and identification of new pump schemes.