New Glass Serves as Window to Cutting-Edge Lasers

About this technology

Overview

Since 1997, Marshall Space Flight Center's Electrostatic Levitator (ESL) facility has been used to study the characteristics of new metals, ceramics, and glass compounds-in both their hot molten states and as they are cooled to form solid materials. The ESL provides a unique way to test such substances without having to make contact with a container or crucible that would contaminate the sample. One of the most recent creations to come from the levitator is a revolutionary family of glasses now being manufactured and sold by Containerless Research, Inc. Made from rare Earth oxides, aluminum oxide, and trace amounts of silicon dioxide, REAlT Glass is currently available for laser, infrared, and optical communications applications as a low-cost alternative to expensive optical glasses, gain media, and crystals. REA1 Glass is generated from a supercooled" liquid and enables higher power densities more efficient laser power conversion broader spectral bandwidths and increased infrared transmission when compared to the likes of other materials such as conventional crystalline sapphire. Containerless Research is establishing a niche-market for REA1 Glass in the high-power laser field by giving lasers more power and much less heat dissipation."