Uniform dispersion of rare-earth ions in quartz glass using Zeolite X and its applications for high-power laser

Summary form only given. A high thermally resistant material for a high average power laser has been required with scalability because the present laser materials do not have the necessary thermal properties. Quartz glass is a very special material which has not only a low thermal expansion coefficient indicating high thermal tolerance, but also high transmittance in the ultraviolet region, and a low nonlinear refractive index. We fabricated Nd Zeolite X-doped SiO/sub 2/ by the sol-gel method with colloidal silica. The Nd Zeolite X and colloidal silica powder mixture was gelled and dried and then sintered to be optically transparent. The fluorescence property of Nd Zeolite X-doped SiO/sub 2/ (Nd/sub 2/O/sub 3/:1.0wt.%) is shown. The peak fluorescence wavelength of /sup 4/F/sub 3/2/ to /sup 4/I/sub 11/2/ transition of Nd/sup 3+/ is at 1062 nm, which is able to work as an amplifier of YAG laser (1064 nm). The fluorescence lifetime is 403 /spl mu/s and the stimulated emission cross section is calculated as 1.15 x 10/sup -20/ cm/sup 2/. These values are suitable for high-power laser application.