Spectroscopic characterization and diode-pumped laser action at 2.7μm of Er:Lu2O3

The sesquioxide Lu2O3 (Lutetia) is isostructural to the comparatively well examined Y2O3 (Yttria). Therefore the thermal conductivity of Lutetia is assumed to be in the same high range as in Yttria (27 W/mK [1]), which makes Lutetia an interesting host material for high power lasing. Due to its high melting point (around 2500°C) is was impossible to grow Lutetia from crucibles in the past so that size and optical quality of existing samples were limited. We have, for the first time to our knowledge, grown Lutetia doped with RE3+-ions from rhenium crucibles using the Nacken-Kyropoulos technique. First samples show monocrystalline regions with rather low stress induced birefringence.