OSE Dissertation Defense by Jared Tolliver on Non-traditional rare-earth-doped oxide glass as a gain medium
Departmental News
Posted: June 2, 2026
Date: Thursday, June 4, 2026
Time: 11:00 AM
Location: CHTM, Room 103 and Zoom
Committee:
Dr. Ganesh Balakrishnan, Committee Chair, ECE Department and CHTM (OSE Alum)
Dr. Christos Christodoulou, ECE Department
Dr. Sang M. Han, Chemical and Biological Engineering Department
Dr. Alexander Neumann, CHTM (OSE Alum)
Dr. Brian Topper, Clemson University and CHTM (OSE Alum)
Abstract:
There is a need for mid-infrared(MIR) lasers in defense, medical, and environmental monitoring. A large part of this technological development is the study of gain media. One class of materials of special interest is glasses with a low maximum phonon energy. These have the fiberization and broad spectral features of glass, whereas glasses with high maximum phonon energy exhibit higher rates of multiphonon relaxation and can be opaque in the MIR, both of which are detrimental to laser operation. Recent advances in container-less processing have allowed for the study of new glasses that aren't possible with conventional fabrication techniques. One of these glasses is lanthanum titanate. It exhibits the spectral properties of 'soft' glasses appropriate for MIR applications, but the thermophysical properties of 'hard' glasses, making them more durable than other low-maximum-phonon-energy glasses. We built and characterized the first laser made from this containerless-processed glass: neodymium-doped lanthanum titanate glass. We found that this glass has a high concentration quenching factor (Q=6.7 x 10^20 cm^-3), allowing for high doping concentrations. This laser had a high slope efficiency of 40% and a tuning range of 1058-1121 nm. It had an average M^2 value of 1.875, showing good beam quality. We finally discuss preliminary studies of a series of erbium-doped glasses looking towards utilizing the 4I11/2->4I15/2 transition near 2.7 microns. Overall, this new class of glass shows promise and warrants further studies.
Biography:
Jared Tolliver received his Bachelor of Science in Physics from Brigham Young University-Idaho in 2016. He went on to earn a Master of Science in Optical Science from the University of Arizona in 2022, where he conducted computational research on nonlinear beam propagation. Afterwards, he began his doctoral studies at the University of New Mexico, joining Dr. Balakrishnan’s group to research solid-state laser materials. There, he constructed the first laser using a titanate glass, which was also the first laser made from a material fabricated by aerodynamic levitation melting.
