NRL is developing new materials that transmit across wide wavelength ranges and will present recent results. MILTRAN is a new optical ceramic that transmits visible through LWIR and is well suited as an internal lens element. NRL-series moldable glasses transmit SWIR through LWIR and may be bonded to each other in an adhesive-free thermal process. NRL-200-series glasses transmit visible through MWIR and expand the glass map for multispectral lens designs. These new materials enable greater flexibility for designers of lenses for advanced defense applications and potentially reduce the size, weight and cost of next-generation optics.

We have been studied optical response of the semiconductor hyperbolic metamaterials (HMM) based on bilayer InGaAs/GaSb compound. It reveals that analytically derived profile of the photonic density of states is remi-niscent of Fermi electronic band structure of metal or semiconductors. Similar to the electronic systems where chemical potential plays a key role in electronic Lifshitz type phase transitions, the photonic Fermi surface ex-periences instabilities induced by the changes in volume fractions of its constituents that leads to the Lifshitz type photonic phase transitions between dielectric phase and types I and II hyperbolic states at critical points.

NRL is developing new materials that transmit across wide wavelength ranges and will present recent results. MILTRAN is a new rugged optical ceramic that transmits visible through LWIR and is 3.5 times harder than ZnS and is well suited as an internal lens element. NRL-series moldable glasses transmit SWIR through LWIR and may be bonded to each other in an adhesive-free thermal process. NRL-200-series glasses transmit visible through MWIR and expand the glass map for multispectral lens designs. These new materials enable greater flexibility for designers of lenses for advanced defense applications and potentially reduce the size, weight and cost of next-generation optics.

At the Naval Research Laboratory, we have developed several rugged oxide materials for optics applications. These materials include cubic sesquioxides (Y2O3 and Lu2O3) and spinel ceramics which transmit in the UV, visible, SWIR and MWIR wavelength region. These materials have superior mechanical and optical properties compared to the currently used materials on various Navy / DoD systems. The transparent and rugged ceramics are fabricated by the Hot press/HIP method using ultra-pure powder synthesized in-house and the resulting ceramics typically have excellent optical quality with no birefringence. In this paper, we present the optical properties of these rugged transparent ceramics and lens designs using these materials will be also discussed.

High power laser systems require the use of optical isolators to prevent coupling of reflected light into the pump laser. Terbium Gallium Garnet (TGG) and Potassium Terbium Fluoride (KTF) are materials used as optical isolators and while they have been grown for many years, advances in crystal growth and processing make a new set of measurements of the Verdet coefficients of these materials desirable. We present new measurements of the Verdet coefficients of TGG and KTF from 0.405 mu to 1.55 mu and derive expressions for the spectral behavior of the Verdet coefficients.

Due to their large effective magnetic moment, Dy3+-doped materials have attracted much interest for magneto-optical applications. In this paper, we report highly Dy3+ doped multicomponent glasses with concentrations from 40 wt.% to 75 wt.% and their magneto-optical properties. A Verdet constant of -7.4 rad/T/m at 1950 nm was measured with the 75 wt.% Dy3+-doped glass. This is the highest reported Verdet constant around 2 µm for a paramagnetic glass. Our experimental results show that highly Dy3+-doped glasses are promising isotropic magneto-optical materials for applications in the 2 µm wavelength region.

High power laser systems operating at mid IR wavelengths are required for medical applications, environmental monitoring, and military applications. All of these systems require optical isolators to avoid feedback into the pump laser cavity. We present measurements of the Verdet coefficient of germanate glass with Dy concentrations varying from 20-50% at wavelengths between .4 and 1.5 microns. The results indicate a linear increase of the Verdet coefficient with impurity concentration and a Sellmeier like dependence on wavelength.

Highly dysprosium doped germanate-phosphate glasses were fabricated, and their magneto-optical properties were measured. The measurement results show that highly dysprosium doped germinate-phosphate glass is a promising magneto-optical material in SWIR region. © 2019 The Author(s)

We study theoretically and numerically high density of states for hyperbolic bilayered metamaterials (HMM). It reveals that density response of HMMis reminiscent of Fermi electronic band structure of metal or semiconductors. By the method of Green function a van Hove type singularity is found in photonic density spectra of HMM with saddle point localization on photonic Fermi surface (FS) of metamaterial Similar to the electronic systems, the photonic FS close to Van Hove singularity experiences instabilities induced by the changes in volume fractions of its constituents that leads to the Lifshitz type zero-temperature phase transition between FS of types I and II hyperbolic states at the protected by topology critical point.

We study theoretically and numerically high density of states for hyperbolic bilayered metamaterials (HMM). It reveals that density response of HMM is reminiscent of Fermi electronic band structure of metal or semiconductors. By the method of Green function a van Hove type singularity is found in photonic density spectra of HMM with saddle point localization on photonic Fermi surface (FS) of metamaterial. Similar to the electronic systems, the photonic FS experiences instabilities induced by the changes in volume fractions of its constituents that leads to the Lifshitz type zero-temperature phase transition between FS of types I and II hyperbolic states at the topology protected critical point.

A polycrystalline 1.5% Ho: YAG fiber with a diameter of 31 µm was prepared. Surface roughness from grain boundary grooving was reduced by polishing, which decreased the fiber scattering coefficient from 76 m-1 to 35 m-1. Lasing tests were done on this fiber with a SF57 Schott glass cladding. Lasing was confirmed by spectrum narrowing with threshold pump power lower than 500 mW and a slope efficiency of 7%. To our knowledge, this is the first lasing demonstration from a small diameter polycrystalline ceramic fiber.

We study theoretically and numerically high density of states for hyperbolic metamaterials (HMM). By the method of Green function we found a van Hove type singularity in the photonic energy density response of HMM with saddle point localization on photonic Fermi surface of metamaterial which can be related to the Lifshitz type optical topology transition. It reveals that general behavior of HMM photonic density response is reminiscent of Fermi electronic band structure of metal or semiconductors and can be related to the optical topology transitions between hyperbolic and trivial material phases. It is discussed importance of inversion symmetry in context of topology transitions and different geometrical realization of HMM structures.

Potassium terbium fluoride is a recently developed magneto-optic material which has been proposed for use as an optical isolator. We have performed measurements of the refractive index, thermo-optic coefficient, and stress-optic coefficient of this material. We present a temperature dependent Sellmeier equation along with calculations of temperature and refractive index profiles at various pump power levels in a diode pumped laser. The data are critical to the design of laser systems in which optical isolators are employed.

The refractive index of polycrystalline α-alumina prisms with an average grain size of 0.6 μm is reported for the wavelength range 0.9 to 5.0 and the temperature range 293 to 498K. Results agree within 0.0002 with the refractive index predicted for randomly oriented grains of single-crystal aluminum oxide. This paper provides tutorial background on the behavior of birefringent materials and explains how the refractive index of polycrystalline alumina can be predicted from the ordinary and extraordinary refractive indices of sapphire. The refractive index of polycrystalline alumina is described by 𝑛𝑛2 − 1 = (A+B [𝑇𝑇2−𝑇𝑇20]) +Dλ2 /λ2−(λ1+C [𝑇𝑇2−𝑇𝑇20])2 + λ2−λ22 where wavelength λ is expressed in μm, To = 295.15 K, A = 2.07156, B = 6.273× 10-8, λ1 = 0.091293, C = –1.9516 × 10-8, D = 5.62675, and λ2 = 18.5533. The slope dn/dT varies with λ and T, but has the approximate value 1.4 × 10-5 K-1 in the range 296–498 K.

We report the first demonstration of a Ho: YAG crystal fiber waveguide (CFW) laser operating at 2.09µm. The CFW structure was produced by adhesive free bonding of holmium doped yttrium aluminum garnet core to an undoped yttrium aluminum garnet cladding. The laser produced CW output powers greater than 500mW with slope efficiency of 17%. The same crystal when passively Q-switched with Cr: ZnSe, produced pulsed output with energies of 1μJ at a repetition frequency of 442kHz.