Spectroscopic Investigation of Yb -Doped Silica Glass for Solid-State Optical Refrigeration

R00exa00exd00exi00exa00ext00exi00exo00exn b00exa00exl00exa00exn00exc00exi00exn00exg is a viable technique for heat mitigation in lasers and amplifiers, relying on anti-Stokes fluorescence cooling to offset heat generation in the gain medium. To achieve radiation balancing, the gain medium should be amenable to solid-state optical refrigeration. As Yb-doped silica is the gain medium of choice for most fiber lasers and amplifiers, it is important to determine whether this material can be optically cooled. The authors use optical spectroscopy to explore the possibility of solid-state optical refrigeration of Yb-doped silica, and show that cooling is in fact feasible.