Ytterbium-doped-garnet crystal waveguide lasers grown by pulsed laser deposition

The growth of a range of crystal garnets by pulsed laser deposition is presented. As a result of optimization of the fabrication process, films can now be grown with optical quality approaching that of bulk material. To demonstrate this, we present laser performance from a Yb:YAG film with 70% slope efficiency and >16 W of output power. In addition, we present the first pulsed laser deposition of laser quality Yb:GGG and Yb:YGG. Watt-level laser performance is achieved for these two gallium garnets and routes to further performance improvements and potential applications of these films are discussed.