Metal Doped Diamond as a Laser Material

DOPED SINGLE CRYSTAL DIAMOND IS A PROMISING MATERIAL UPON WHICH TO BASE A NEW CLASS OF SOLID STATE LASERS AND OPTICAL DEVICES OPERATING AT HIGHER POWER DENSITIES AND SHORTER WAVELENGHTS THAN CONVENTIONAL MATERIALS ALLOW. AT PRESENT, HOWEVER, NO ACCEPTABLE METHOD EXISTS FOR PRODUCING METAL DOPED DIAMOND REPRODUCIBLY AT CONTROLLED DOPING LEVELS. OUR CURRENT RESEARCH SUGGESTS A NOVEL METHOD OF INCORPORATING ANY DESIRED ELEMENT AT WELL DEFINED CONCENTRATIONS INTO THE DIAMOND LATTICE DURING GROWTH UNDER LOW PRESSURE CHEMICAL VAPOR DEPOSITION (LPCVD) CONDITIONS. WE SHALL DEMONSTRATE THIS APPROACH BY PRODUCING Nd AND Ti DOPED CRYSTALS AND EVALUATING THEIR OPTICAL CHARACTERISTICS DURING PHASE I. AFTER ESTABLISHING A RELIABLE PROCESS TECHNOLOGY AND SURVEYING METAL DOPED DIAMOND CRYSTALS EARLY IN PHASE II, WE WILL CONCENTRATE ON PRODUCING USEFUL LASER AND OPTICAL AMPLIFIER DEVICES FROM DOPED DIAMOND SUBSTRATES.