Seminar Announcement: Cesare Meroni

Data pubblicazione: 02-dic-2021

Announcement

Monday, 20 December 2021, 15:00

Sala Grande Palazzina B via alla Cascata 56/C

"Laser Crystals Based on Nd:CaF₂ co-doped with Multiple Buffer Ions for High Energy Applications"

Cesare Meroni

Centre de recherche sur les Ions, les Matériaux et la Photonique (CIMAP),

UMR 6252 CEA-CNRS-ENSICAEN, Université de Caen,

6 Blvd Maréchal Juin, 14050 Caen, France

E-mail: cesare.meroni@ensicaen.fr

Abstract

Within Nd-doped laser crystals, the doping of fluorite-type single crystals reveals an unique possibility for broadband, high-energy, short-pulse laser amplification at 1μm, which makes these materials appealing to various high energy laser applications such as inertial confinement fusion (ICF), which require very high energy laser pulses with high repetition rates. More precisely, Nd-doped CaF₂ crystals exhibit high thermal conductivity, and emission bands as wide as the state-of-the-art Nd-doped glasses currently employed in laser amplification for ICF. The laser performance of these crystals depend on their various spectroscopic characteristics such as wide absorption bands for efficient laser diode pumping and wide emission bands for ultra-short laser pulse generation or amplification. Therefore, a detailed description of the various Nd-X emitting clusters embedded in those crystals is crucial. Furthermore, the combination of different buffer ions within the same laser crystal enables a fine-tuning and tailoring of the spectroscopic properties of the laser crystals, in order to achieve customized broadband laser emissions, making Nd:CaF₂ a promising material for diode-pumped amplifiers and high-energy laser chains at high repetition rates.