Investigation of photothermal refractive index changes in novel laser crystals by the transient gratings method

• Published in: Proceedings of CAOL 2005. Second International Conference on Advanced Optoelectronics and Lasers, 2005 Vol. 1; pp. 81 - 83 vol. 1
• Main Authors: Ivakin, E.V., Sukhadolau, A.V., Filippov, V.V., Melnik, S.A.
• Format: Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Published: IEEE 2005
• Subjects: Anisotropic magnetoresistance; Crystals; Electronic components; Gratings; Laser excitation; Laser transitions; Optical refraction; Piezooptic effects; Refractive index; Slabs
• ISBN: 9780780391307; 0780391306
• ISSN: 2160-1518; 2160-1534
• DOI: 10.1109/CAOL.2005.1553823

In this report we propose to characterize Yb doped laser crystals by using light induced phase grating recorded in active slabs via spatially periodical excitation of samples. Thermal and electronic refractive index changes are considered. Thermal and piezooptical contributions to refraction are found to depend on the directions of grating vector. For anisotropic crystals they may have opposite signs and particular directions there exist with both components being mutually compensated. Electronic component of refraction is used for the difference of polarisability of ground and lasing levels calculation.