Review of Development of Nd-Doped Laser Glass in China
Signature Since the invention of laser in 1960,laser technology has been widely used in many fields,such as scientific research,industrial processing,medical treatment,military confrontation,space exploration,and daily life.In the continuous development of laser technology,laser materials are key as core gain media.Laser glass is an important component of solid laser media and is an optical glass composed of a glass matrix and activated ions.The physicochemical and process characteristics of laser glass depend on the matrix glass,the spectral performance depends primarily on the activated ions,and the final laser properties are determined by both the glass composition and preparation process.To date,rare-earth ions,which are an important class of activated ions,have afforded multiwavelength laser outputs in a bulk glass matrix.Compared with other rare earth ion-doped glasses,Nd3+ions offer advantages such as multiple absorption lines in the UV and visible regions,large stimulated emission cross sections,and low thresholds for～1 μm wavelength lasers.Therefore,neodymium-doped laser glass is the preferred gain medium for xenon lamp-pumped high-energy laser devices.Since the introduction of ruby laser in the early 1960s,glass science and technology workers in China have begun to analyze the possibility of generating lasers in a glassy state.In 1961,Snitzer of the American Optical Company publicly reported the results of generating laser using crown optical glass doped with neodymium oxide.On April 27,1963,Gan et al.generated laser using rod-shaped neodymium glass measuring Φ3 mm×5 cm,which propelled scientific investigations into laser neodymium glass in China.In 1964,the Shanghai Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics(SIOM)was established,and laser glass research was transferred from Changchun to Shanghai.Laser neodymium glass has been investigated for 60 years at the SIOM.The latter is one of the few facilities in the world that can master the entire technology of laser neodymium glass,from glass composition design to batch preparation.Laser neodymium glass products developed at the SIOM have been widely used in China's Shenguang series facility,the Shanghai Superintense Ultrafast Laser Facility(SULF),and high-energy lasers for laser peening.Over the recent 60 years,different types of laser glass have been launched in China,and the preparation technology has progressed significantly,thus facilitating the development of laser technology in different periods.The related technologies are being investigated worldwide.Progress Since its establishment 60 years ago,the SIOM has continuously developed laser glass technology to satisfy the application demands of high-power lasers and large-scale laser-facility constructions.Two types of laser glasses,i.e.,silicate neodymium glass and phosphate neodymium glass,have been successively developed.The key issues in preparing laser neodymium glass,i.e.,impurity removal,hydroxyl removal,stripe removal,platinum particle removal,and edge wrapping,have been overcome.Self-developed crucible melting and continuous melting technologies for laser glass have been used in large-aperture laser glass manufacturing.Compared with crucible melting,continuous melting offers significantly better manufacturing efficiency and consistency.Conclusions and Prospects Over the recent 60 years,different types of laser glass have been launched in China,and the associated preparation technology has been developed continuously to satisfy the development demands of laser technology in different periods.
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