Overview of the best Yb3+-doped laser crystals

Using a model for the quasi-three level laser dealing with gaussian waves, taking into account the saturation of the pump, the stimulated emission at the pump wavelength, the variation of the pump and laser waists along propa gation (important for laser diode pumping) and the variation of the laser i ntensity along propagation, we evaluate the more promising Yb3+-doped cryst als for laser applications: YAG, LNB, GdCOB, YCOB, YAB, C-FAP, S-FAP, KGdW, KYW, Sc2O3, Y2O3, Lu2O3. Our evaluation differs from Deloach et al. (IEEE J. Quant. Electron. 1993;29:1179). KYW, KGdW, YAB and Sc2O3 are found to be the most efficient when considering the laser extracted power and the slop e efficiency. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.