First laser oscillation of diode-pumped Tm-doped LuScO mixed sesquioxide ceramic.

Tm-doped LuScO mixed sesquioxide ceramics were successfully fabricated by using a solid-state reactive sintering method. The absorption and emission spectra were measured at room temperature. Continuous-wave (CW) and passively Q-switched laser operation of Tm:LuScO ceramic were investigated for the first time to our knowledge. A CW output power of 211 mW with slope efficiency of about 8.2% was obtained. With single-walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT) as saturable absorber, a maximum average output power of 32 mW was achieved. The shortest pulse width was 0.59 μs at pulse repetition rate of 34.72 kHz.