Advanced Photon Research Center, Kansai Research Establishment, Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute, 8-1 Umemidai, Kizu-cho, Souraku-gun, Kyoto 619-0215, Japan
Abstract:
We succeeded in the fabrication of bonded laser crystals composed of a neodymium-doped YVO4 laser crystal (Nd:YVO4) and its host crystals YVO4 by a newly developed dry etching technique using an argon ion beam. The optical distortion caused by the bonded interface of size 5 mm × 6 mm was estimated to be 0.05λ at 633 nm. From the comparison of laser performance pumped by a laser diode, the bonded crystals could increase the laser output power by nearly twice that of the non-bonded crystals with the same degree of polarization of 99.2%. To analyze the mechanism of the enhanced reduction of the thermal load in the bonded crystals, numerical simulations with a finite-element method were also performed.