Optical property measurements of 235 mm large-scale Ti:sapphire crystal

A Ti：sapphire crystal with a diameter of 235 mm and thickness of 72 mm was grown by the heat exchange method（HEM）. The absorption intensity of the crystal at 532 nm averaged at 91%. The figures of merit（FOMs）at different positions of the crystal were measured and the FOM value in the central region was found to reach 90.The transmittance laser beam was intact with no obvious distortions and had only a small deformation compared with the incident laser beam. A small-signal amplification experiment was performed on the Ti：sapphire crystal and a gain of more than 6 times was achieved with a pump energy density of 1.98 J∕cm^2. These tests indicate that the 235 mm Ti：sapphire crystal has excellent optical qualities and will further improve the energy output of a 10 PW laser system.

Study on Inclusions in Large Sapphire Optical Crystal Grown by SAPMAC Method

The sapphire （Al2O3） single crystal is a kind of excellent infrared transmission window materials. A large-sized sapphire （Ф225 mm×205 mm, 27.5 kg） was grown by SAPMAC method （sapphire growth technique with micro-pulling and shoulder-expanding at cooled center）. Several kinds of inclusion in the large sapphire crystal were investigated by means of an optical microscopy （OM）, scanning electron microscopy （SEM） and electron probe microanalysis （EPMA）. The experimental results show that most inclusions are consisted of solid metallic and non-metallic particles as well as gas pores caused by the impurity of alumina as the raw material, the thermal dissociation of aluminum oxide melt and the reaction of the melt to the crucible material （Mo） at high temperatures. It is also found that in different crystal regions the inclusions are of varied sizes, morphology and chemical compositions. Finally, the measures to reduce and eliminate the inclusions are proposed to improve the crystal quality.

Influence of gas flow on thermal field and stress during growth of sapphire single crystal using Kyropoulos method

The professional modeling software package CrysVUn was employed to study the process of a large sapphire single crystal growth using Kyropoulos method. The influence of gas pressure on thermal field, solid-liquid interface shape, gas velocity field and von Mises stress were studied for the first time. It is found that the root of the seed melt when gas pressure equals to one atmosphere or more than one atmosphere, especially during the seeding period, this result is consistent with the experimental observation, and this paper presents three ways to solve this problem. The temperature gradient and stress decreases significantly as the gas pressure increases. The convexity of the solid-liquid interface slightly increases when the gas pressure increases. Numerical analysis was used to optimize the hot zone design.

Study of material removal behavior on R-plane of sapphire during ultra-precision machining based on modified slip-fracture model

In this paper, the modified slip/fracture activation model has been used in order to understand the mechanism of ductile-brittle transition on the R-plane of sapphire during ultra-precision machining by reflecting direction of resultant force. Anisotropic characteristics of crack morphology and ductility of machining depending on cutting direction were explained in detail with modified fracture cleavage and plastic deformation parameters. Through the analysis, it was concluded that crack morphologies were mainly determined by the interaction of multiple fracture systems activated while, critical depth of cut was determined by the dominant plastic deformation parameter. In addition to this, by using proportionality relationship between magnitude of resultant force and depth of cut in the ductile region, an empirical model for critical depth of cut was developed.

Demonstration of joule-level chirped pulse amplification based on tiled Ti:sapphire amplifier

A novel tiled Ti:sapphire(Ti:S)amplifier was experimentally demonstrated with>1 J amplified chirped pulse output.Two Ti:S crystals having dimensions of 14 mm×14 mm×25 mm were tiled as the gain medium in a four-pass amplifier.Maximum output energy of 1.18 J was obtained with 2.75 J pump energy.The energy conversion efficiency of the tiled Ti:S amplifier was comparable with a single Ti:S amplifier.The laser pulse having the maximum peak power of 28 TW was obtained after the compressor.Moreover,the influence of the beam gap on the far field was discussed.This novel tiled Ti:S amplifier technique can provide a potential way for 100 PW or EW lasers in the future.