Abstract

The thin disk laser is a well-established setup for lasers with high output powers in continuous wave as well as in pulsed operation mode [1]. The most common gain material for the thin disk laser is Yb:YAG. In order to obtain even higher output powers an increased thermal conductivity is beneficial. One solution to obtain higher thermal conductivities of the gain material is to substitute the Y-ion with the Lu-ion. We have shown that in such gain materials like Yb:LuAG [2] or Yb:Lu₂O₃ [3], the thermal conductivity remains high even for high Yb-doping concentrations. Another solution to improve the heat removal is to reduce the thickness of the gain material. To maintain a good absorption in this case, high doping concentrations are necessary. However, it has been shown that efficient laser operation cannot be achieved in Yb:YAG for more than 15% Yb-doping concentration. Also in terms of the achievable pulse duration in modelocked operation, Yb:YAG is not the best choice due to its limited gain bandwidth. For this purpose mixed gain materials like Yb:LuScO₃ have been shown to be very suitable [4].

© 2011 Optical Society of America