Spectroscopic and lasing characteristics of an Yb-doped silica rod fabricated by the vapor-phase axial deposition technology

• High quality Yb-doped silica-based rod with a large diameter fabricated by the vapor-phase axial deposition process. • Determination of absorption and emission cross sections spectra and the fluorescence lifetime of the Yb:silica rod. • Efficient laser signal amplification by using the Yb:silica rod as a gain medium. • Characterization of the Yb:silica laser amplifier and its potential applications for ultra-short pulse lasers. Spectroscopic and lasing characteristics of the ytterbium (Yb)-doped silica-based rod fabricated by the vapor-phase axial deposition technology is reported. Using a high-quality Yb-doped silica (Yb:silica) rod with a diameter of 1.5 mm, we calculated the absorption and emission cross sections based on measurement of the absorption spectrum, resulting in a maximum absorption cross section of 3.84 × 10 −19 cm 2 at 978 nm and a maximum emission cross section of 4.23 × 10 −19 cm 2 at 980 nm. In addition, the fluorescent lifetime was measured to be 974 μs. We applied the Yb:silica rod to a laser amplifier, yielding 72 W of amplified continuous-wave output at 1030 nm with a slope efficiency of 28%. Prospects of power scaling along with achievement of good beam quality are discussed.