High-precision FoM measurement setup for Ti:sapphire crystals

Abstract

The figure of merit (FoM) of Ti:sapphire (Ti:Sa) crystals is a generally used means to evaluate the quality of the crystals. Despite the importance of Ti:Sa, the question of FoM measurement precision stayed out of focus, while the commercially available spectrometers provide unsatisfactory 3 σ precision reaching ± 60 % . In this paper, we present a setup for a single-pass high-precision transmission measurement for three different wavelengths (532, 780, and 1560 nm) based on Nd:YAG and Er:YAG lasers. A synchronous detection via a double integrated sphere enabled us to achieve the transmission uncertainty of 0,01–0,03%. With the presented setup, we show that it is possible to determine the FoM values with 3 σ precision of ± 7 , 5 % . Owing to the high FoM precision, we were able to trace spatial inhomogeneities of an unannealed Ti:Sa crystal produced by a commercial manufacturer Crytur. Our measurements demonstrate that the FoM values can be significantly affected by the crystal inhomogeneities and angular mismatch between the c axis of the Ti:Sa and polarization orientation.