Study of the effects of Cr ions on Yb in Cr,Yb:YAG crystal

The absorption and fluorescence spectra of Cr,Yb:YAG crystal were measured. There are two absorption bands at 940 nm and 968 nm although the absorption coefficient is lower than that of the absorption peak of Yb:YAG superimposed in Cr:YAG absorption peak. The emission peak intensity is 4 times lower than that of Yb:YAG, which may be caused by the existence of the ground state absorption of Cr4+ which quenches the Yb3+ emission intensity. Although the emission peak of Cr,Yb:YAG is lower than that of Yb:YAG, there is an advantage of this crystal which combines the saturable absorber and gain medium into one and can be a self-Q switching laser crystal if Cr,Yb:YAG crystal is pumped with high energy power. (C) 1999 Published by Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.