The second part of the webinar will be on current developments in the field of sesquioxide host materials for high power infrared and mid-infrared lasers based on trivalent ytterbium, thulium, or erbium as active ions. Recently, they have discovered significantly reduced melting points in a wide range of compositions of mixed sesquioxide crystals, which – for the first time – enables their growth by the established Czochralski-method. By compositional tuning in the ternary system Y2O3 – Sc2O3 – Lu2O3, they aim to tailor the emission spectra to support shortest pulse durations in efficient ultrafast mode-locked lasers for different wavelength regions.

In addition to introducing recent trends in the field of material development for solid-state lasers, this webinar will provide insights into the requirements for host materials for different types of laser applications and the challenges associated with their fabrication. Moreover, the audience will learn about typical trade-offs associated with the optimization of a gain material for a particular purpose.

Subject Matter Level: Introductory - Assumes little previous knowledge of the topic

What You Will Learn:

• Requirements for suitable host materials for rare-earth-doped lasers
• Degrees of freedom to tailor the properties of gain media
• Typical challenges associated with the fabrication of laser crystals

Who Should Attend:

• Anyone working with solid-state lasers
• Anyone interested in the recent progress in laser materials

About the Presenter: Christian Kränkel, Leibniz-Institut für Kristallzüchtung

Christian Kränkel studied physics and received his PhD at the Universität Hamburg, Germany with Günter Huber. After a postdoctoral stay in the group of Ursula Keller at ETH Zurich, Switzerland, he became a junior research group leader at the German excellence cluster “CUI – The Hamburg Centre for Ultrafast Imaging”. Since his habilitation in 2017 he leads the Center for Laser Materials at the Leibniz-Institut für Kristallzüchtung in Berlin, Germany and lecturer at the Humboldt Universität zu Berlin. Dr. Kränkel serves as an associate editor for Optics Express and was elected a Fellow of Optica in 2021. He is the author of more than 100 scientific papers, 300 conference contributions, and 2 book chapters. Dr. Kränkel’s research interests include the development, growth and characterization of rare-earth and transition-metal doped laser crystals for lasers with emission wavelengths from the UV to the mid-infrared spectral range in continuous wave, Q-switched and mode-locked operation.