NSUU: Transparent ceramics for lasers

2023: Product Announcement

Chemists of Lobachevsky University have obtained transparent ceramics with the structure of fluorapatite for near-infrared lasers. The unique development at the university was told on September 4, 2023.

By this period, commercial "ceramic" lasers are not yet produced, but scientists from many countries of the world are actively working on their creation. In Russia, chemists from Lobachevsky University were the first to get transparent ceramics for lasers. To do this, they used fluoropatite, an analogue of bone tissue. To make it suitable for laser installations, scientists used hot pressing technology. Thanks to her, it was possible to obtain polycrystals from fluoropatite - the basis for a new generation of lasers.

Chemists from Lobachevsky University were the first to get transparent ceramics for lasers

The material is transparent and does not scatter light. Its structure will allow you to change elements in the nodes of the crystal lattice and tune the laser for a specific task. For example, it can be used for minimally invasive operations in surgery and cosmetology or to determine harmful substances in the atmosphere.

The new ceramics will be the basis for the creation of a new generation laser installation. Now scientists are developing another important element of it - an additive that gives light, which transforms the basis.

To create an active laser medium, you need a base material (matrix) and an additive that gives luminescence. We have mastered the technique of producing dense optically transparent strontium fluorapatite and plan to synthesize laser materials with active holmium and erbium ions that generate radiation in the range of 2-3 microns. The final result of the developments should be a laser installation on the obtained nanoceramics, - said the author of the study, head of the laboratory of optical ceramic materials of the N.N. Lobachevsky Dmitry Permin.[1]

Notes