Low-Phonon-Energy Rare-Earth Doped Laser Gain Materials: Crystals vs. Glasses

• Published in: 2023 Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics Europe & European Quantum Electronics Conference (CLEO/Europe-EQEC) p. 1
• Main Authors: Brown, Ei Ei, Fleischman, Zackery, McKay, Jason, Merkle, Larry, Hommerich, Uwe, Palosz, Witold, Trivedi, Sudhir, Dubinskii, Mark
• Format: Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Published: IEEE 26.06.2023
• Subjects: Chemical lasers; Crystals; Glass; Ions; Phonons; Solid lasers; Solids
• ISSN: 2833-1052
• DOI: 10.1109/CLEO/Europe-EQEC57999.2023.10232422

Development of new solid-state mid-infrared (mid-IR) laser sources for wide range of applications in remote sensing, free-space communications, materials processing, and medicine remains to be a challenge, and demands advanced laser material development. RE 3+ ions possess promising emission transitions in the mid-IR spectral region but require host materials with low maximum phonon energies to circumvent competing nonradiative multi-phonon relaxation (MPR), thus preserving high efficiency of mid-IR emission [1-3]. RE 3+ doped low-phonon fluoride (300-450\ \text{cm}^{-1}) and ternary chloride crystals (200-250\ \text{cm}^{-1}) are well studied as laser materials for mid-IR. Recently, interest in chalcogenide glasses increased significantly due to their chemical and mechanical durability, wide mid-IR transparency, sufficiently low phonon energies. Among RE 3+ ions, trivalent dysprosium Dy 3+ , holmium Ho 3+ , and erbium Er 3+ are known to be the most common laser active ions in solid host materials capable of producing laser output in the 3-5 \upmu\mathrm{m} spectral range [1].