Ceramic laser gain materials have been in development since the 1960's but it was not until the
resurgence in research and development in the 1990's that they showcased equivalent laser performance
to their single crystal counterparts. Ceramics offer numerous distinctive advantages over single crystal
and are considered to be the key enabler in power scaling of solid state lasers. Ceramics can be made
larger, at lower cost, and with additional degrees of engineering design freedom than single crystals, such
as higher doping concentration, more uniform or tailored distribution of dopants, and feasibility to be
fabricated into monolithic composite structures without bonding. At Raytheon, powder processing
methodology has matured to meet the optical requirement, scale-up challenge, and laser performance
characteristics in Yb, Nd, and Er doped ceramic YAG materials. This communication presents the latest
results obtained by Raytheon on the US fabricated ceramic laser materials.
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