DEVELOPMENT OF A HIGH FREQUENCY Q-SWITCHED GLASS LASER VIA SOL-GEL PROCESSING

EXISTING GLASS MATRIX LASERS UTILIZE NEODYMIUM DOPING OF A SILICATE MATRIX. THE INABILITY TO USE A SIO2 MATRIX RESULTS IN AN EFFICIENCY OF 3% OR LESS. THE LOW THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY OF GLASS COUPLED WITH THE RELATIVELY HIGH COEFFICIENT OF THERMAL EXPANSION OF THE SILICATES LIMITS THE OUTPUT INTENSITY AND PULSE RATE IN ORDER TO PREVENT DEDOCUSING AND FILAMENTARY BREAKDOWN FROM THE THERMAL EFFECTS. THE NEW TECHNOLOGY OF SOL-GEL GLASS PRODUCTION AT LOW TEMPERATURES PERMIT THE ABILITY TO DOPE NEODYMIUM AS WELL AS RARE-EARTH SENSITIZERS IN AN ULTRAPURE SIO2 MATRIX. THE SOL-GEL PROCESS GIVES A MATERIAL WITH A COEFFICIENT OF THERMAL EXPANSION 20 TIMES LOWER THAN LASER SILICATES. OTHER IMPROVEMENTS ARE SEEN IN THE INDEX OF REFRACTION, NON-LINEAR INDEX AND ABBE NUMBER. BY USING THE SOL-GEL METHOD TO PRODUCE ND DOPED GLASS LASERS, A MUCH HIGHER EFFICIENCY WILL BE OBTAINED WHICH WILL ALLOW GLASS LASERS TO BE USED FOR RAPID INFORMATION PROCESSING AND DATA ACQUISITION IN APPLICATIONS AND ENVIRONMENTS NOT CURRENTLY POSSIBLE.