Doped sesquioxide ceramic for eye-safe solid state laser materials

In this paper, we present our recent results in the development of Ho 3+ doped sesquioxides for eye-safe solid state lasers. We have synthesized optical quality Lu 2 O 3 nanopowders doped with concentrations of 0.1, 1.0, 2.0, and 5% Ho 3+ . The powders were synthesized by a co-precipitation method beginning with nitrates of holmium and lutetium. The nanopowders were hot pressed into optical quality ceramic discs. The optical transmission of the ceramic discs is excellent, nearly approaching the theoretical limit. The optical, spectral and morphological properties as well as the lasing performance from highly transparent ceramics are presented.