First thin-disk oscillator with ceramic Yb:LuScO3 in comparison to the operation with ceramic Yb:Lu2O3

Abstract We report on the characterization and first laser operation of ceramic Yb:LuScO 3 in a thin-disk oscillator. The optical performance achieved with a ceramic Yb:LuScO 3 disk is compared to the one obtained with an existing ceramic Yb:Lu 2 O 3 disk for reference. The characterization covers the measurement of the fluorescence spectra, the fluorescence lifetimes, and nomarsky imaging. The investigation on the laser operation covers the measurement of resonator losses, output powers, and thermal behavior during continuous-wave operation in a multimode thin-disk oscillator. An average output power of 149 W and a slope efficiency of 51.8% were achieved with the ceramic Yb:LuScO 3 disk which reached a maximum surface temperature of about 150 °C. At the same temperature level, a disk made of the already established ceramic Yb:Lu 2 O 3 delivered 957 W of output power with a slope efficiency of 75.7%.