Experimental and Theoretical Investigation of Pump Laser Induced Thermal Damage for Polycrystalline Ceramic and Crystal Nd:YAG

Author

Yu Shen ; Yong Bo ; Nan Zong ; Ya-Ding Guo ; Qin-Jun Peng ; Jiang Li ; Yu-Bai Pan ; Jing-Yuan Zhang ; Da-Fu Cui ; Zu-Yan Xu

Author_Institution

Key Lab. of Functional Crystal & Laser Technol., Univ. of Chinese Acad. of Sci., Beijing, China

Volume

21

Issue

1

fYear

2015

fDate

Jan.-Feb. 2015

Firstpage

160

Lastpage

167

Abstract

Continuous wave 808-nm pump laser induced thermal damage of polycrystalline ceramic and crystalline Nd:YAG materials were investigated both experimentally and theoretically in this paper. The measured temperature agrees well with the theoretical simulation and the maximum hoop stress occurs on the incident facet of the end pumped rod at about √2 times of the pump beam radius w₀, where the temperature gradient is the highest and the damage occurs first. The pumping laser power makes no influence on the maximum hoop stress location, when the position of the laser beam is unchanged. The thermal damage investigation indicates that the transparent ceramic Nd:YAG has greater resistance than thermal fracture and it is 64% higher than that of the crystals.

Keywords

ceramics; laser beam effects; neodymium; optical materials; optical pumping; thermal conductivity; thermal stresses; yttrium compounds; YAG:Nd; continuous wave pump laser induced thermal damage; crystalline materials; end pumped rod; hoop stress location; laser beam position; polycrystalline ceramics; pump beam radius; pumping laser power; temperature gradient; thermal fracture; thermal resistance; transparent ceramics; wavelength 808 nm; Ceramics; Crystals; Laser beams; Laser excitation; Measurement by laser beam; Pump lasers; Temperature measurement; Ceramics; crystal; solid lasers; thermal resistance; thermal stress;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Selected Topics in Quantum Electronics, IEEE Journal of

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

1077-260X

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/JSTQE.2014.2351791

Filename

6883161