Engineering of thin crystal layers grown by pulsed laser deposition

Pulsed laser deposition (PLD) is an epitaxial growth technique capable of growing planar layers of crystals with thicknesses up to several 10's of microns. Crystal layers can be grown sequentially without intermediate sample conditioning allowing complicated structures, such as laser-active double-clad designs, to be routinely fabricated. We have recently demonstrated output powers of more than 16W and slope efficiencies of 70% for diode-bar end-pumped planar waveguide oscillators based on PLD Yb:YAG grown on YAG substrates. Here, we present our initial results on varying the growth conditions to tailor the stoichiometry, refractive index, and spectroscopic properties of PLD grown layers. This fine level of control, made possible by this technique, opens the way to bespoke and unique gain media for novel amplifier and lasers designs.