3D Printing of gradient-doped Yb:YAG laser ceramics by leveraging active mixing

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Xie, Mengmeng, Ji, Haohao, Wang, Dewen, Wang, Junping, Zhang, Jian, Liu, Yu, Liu, Dianzi, Wang, Shiwei, Chen, Nianjiang, Wang, Lei and Gao, Yuan (2024) 3D Printing of gradient-doped Yb:YAG laser ceramics by leveraging active mixing. Additive Manufacturing Frontiers, 3 (1). ISSN 2950-4317

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Abstract

Gradient-doped laser ceramics fabricated via 3D printing have great potential for high-power laser applications. However, it is challenging to produce such types of gain media because it is inconvenient to fabricate different component slurries prepared offline using traditional methods precisely. To address these issues, a facile approach for the additive manufacturing of high-power laser ceramics is proposed for gradient structure fabrication. First, a material-extrusion-based 3D printing device with a homemade active mixing module is developed to fabricate gradient-doped Yb:YAG(Y 3Al 5O 12) laser ceramics using two slurries with different doping concentrations. Subsequently, the active mixing module is systematically investigated to obtain different Yb-doped concentrations of printing slurries with a uniform element distribution. By measuring the switching delay volume between different components, a proper volume adjustment enables the Yb concentration distribution of the green bodies to be consistent with the designed profile in the 3D process. Finally, multi-component (0–5–10–5–0 at% Yb:YAG) green bodies are printed, and experimental tests are conducted to evaluate the performance of these gradient-doped laser ceramics. The results show that the gradient-doped ceramic obtained 82.1% in-line transmittance at 1100 nm (4.6 mm thickness, along with the doping concentration gradient) and the average Yb ions diffusion distance across the interface fitted in the 20–30 μm range. Furthermore, a 1030 nm laser output with an output power of 4.5 W with a slope efficiency of 41.3% is achieved when pumped with a 940 nm laser diode. This study provides useful insights for developing various gradient rare-earth-doped laser ceramics for high-power laser applications.

Item Type: Article
Additional Information: Acknowledgements: This work was supported by National Key Research and Development Program of China (Grant No. 2023YFB3812000), Jiangsu Provincial Key Research and Development Program (Grant No. BE2022069–2), National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 52130207), National Basic Science Research Program of China (Grant No. JCKY2021203B032), and the Unveiling and Hanging Project of Nantong (Grant No. JB2022001).
Uncontrolled Keywords: 3d printing,active mixing,gradient-doped,laser ceramics,yb:yag,mechanical engineering ,/dk/atira/pure/subjectarea/asjc/2200/2210
Faculty \ School: Faculty of Science > School of Engineering (former - to 2024)
UEA Research Groups: Faculty of Science > Research Groups > Sustainable Energy
Faculty of Science > Research Groups > Materials, Manufacturing & Process Modelling
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Depositing User: LivePure Connector
Date Deposited: 18 Oct 2023 00:42
Last Modified: 03 Jan 2025 01:01
URI: https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/93357
DOI: 10.1016/j.amf.2024.200118

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