We will present our results on fabricating transparent ceramic gain media with endcaps, planar and channel waveguides made by additive manufacturing, thin-disk structures with an undoped “face cap”, and laser rods where the doped core is surrounded by a clad. The ceramic optics are based on various garnet and sesquioxide compositions as well as for SrF2. Various gain and laser oscillation results are included as feasibility demonstrations.
Pixelated arrays of the transparent ceramic (Gd,Lu)2O3:Eu (GLO) scintillator for x-ray imaging have been fabricated using direct ink write (DIW) additive manufacturing followed by sintering and ceramics processing steps. These arrays consist of ~400 μm diameter pixels that are 4 mm long and have a pitch of 500 μm. When mounted on an amorphous silicon xray imaging array, pixelated GLO arrays offer >10x increase in the light output compared to black-coated monolithic GLO plates, using a 150 keV Bremsstrahlung source.
Transparent ceramic fabrication via solid state sintering is opening a path to a new category of laser gain media with tailor-made doping and index profiles. Techniques such as assembly of green structure pieces, direct ink writing, and Ink jet printing allow the fabrication of a wide variety of tailored optics including; slabs, rods, gradient doping, thin disks, ceramic-clad single-crystal fibers, and planar waveguides. The potential for 3D printed gain media to have a profound impact on new laser design and integrated optics is yet untapped. This work was performed under the auspices of the U.S. DOE by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory under Contract DE-AC52-07NA27344. LLNL-ABS-816729
The capability to customize the structure or composition of an optical element gives designers access to previously unrealizable configurations that show promise for reducing costs, enhancing functionality, as well as improving the size, weight, and power of optical systems. Techniques for three-dimensional (3d) printing of glass have opened the door to novel glass optics with both unconventional structures and tailored composition. An overview of the state-of-the art in glass 3d printing will be presented. Particular emphasis will be placed on the direct ink writing (DIW) technique, in which specially formulated silica pastes are extruded through a nozzle and deposited in the geometry of interest, forming low density green bodies. The green bodies are then converted to full density, optically homogeneous glass by a series of heat treatments. The 3d printed silica-based glass components have material and optical properties that rival conventionally prepared optical grade fused silica. In addition, glass optics that contain tailored gradients in composition, such as gradient index lenses, have been achieved by DIW by blending separate inks inline at the print nozzle and directly depositing the desired composition profile before forming the glass. Strategies are also being developed to reduce time to development of new materials and structures.
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