Development of longer Nd:LGGG crystal for high power laser application

In order to further improve the Nd3+:(LuxGd1-x)3Ga5O12 (Nd:LGGG) crystal performance in high power laser field, a long Nd:LGGG crystal with dimensions of Φ 23 × 112 mm3 has been grown successfully by the Czochralski (Cz) method for laser rod fabrication. Compared with the normal size LGGG crystals (like 30-50 mm in length), we overcame several difficulties in the growth of longer ones, including crystal cracking by a large longitudinal temperature gradient, spiral growth by a small radial temperature gradient, and growth instability and even constitutional super cooling by Ga2O3 volatilizing continuously. The doping concentrations of Nd3+ and Lu3+ in the as-grown crystal and the crystal optical quality have been measured. The performance of diode-side-pumped Nd:LGGG rod laser has been preliminarily tested for the first time, simply by replacing the Nd:YAG crystal rod inside a commercial laser module. Under an incident pump power of 160 W, the maximum continuous wave output power of 38 W has been obtained, corresponding to an optical-optical conversion efficiency of 23.8% and a slope efficiency of 40.8%, respectively.