Spectroscopy and efficient laser operation around 2.8 μm of Er:(Lu,Sc)2O3 sesquioxide ceramics

Liza Basyrova (1) , Pavel Loiko (2, 1) , Wei Jing (3) , Yicheng Wang (4) , Hui Huang (3) , Elena Dunina (5) , Alexey Kornienko (5) , Liudmila Fomicheva (1) , Bruno Viana (6) , Uwe Griebner (4) , Valentin Petrov (4) , Magdalena Aguiló (7) , Francesc Díaz (7) , Xavier Mateos (7) , Patrice Camy (1)

1 CIMAP - UMR 6252 - Centre de recherche sur les Ions, les MAtériaux et la Photonique
2 OML - Optique, Matériaux et Laser
3 Southwest Institute of Nuclear Physics and Chemistry [Mianyang]
4 MBI - Max-Born Institute for Nonlinear Optics and Short Pulse Spectroscopy
5 Vitebsk State Technological University
6 ENSCP - Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Chimie de Paris - Chimie ParisTech-PSL
7 Universitat Rovira i Virgili

A transparent “mixed” 7 at.% Er:(Lu,Sc)2O3 sesquioxide ceramic was fabricated by hot isostatic pressing of commercial sesquioxide powders at 1750 °C / 200 MPa in argon atmosphere. It exhibited a cubic bixbyite-type structure (a = 10.198 Å), a mean grain size of 5.7 µm and high low-signal transmission of 79.1% in the near-IR. The spectroscopic properties of Er3+ ions were studied. For the 4 I11/2 → 4 I13/2 transition, the stimulated-emission cross-section σSE is 1.30×10-20 cm2 at 2719 nm, the corresponding luminescence branching ratio B(JJ') is 19.9% and the radiative lifetime of the 4 I11/2 state is 4.80 ms, as determined using a Judd-Ofelt theory accounting for intermediate configuration interaction. The crystal-field splitting of Er3+ multiplets was studied at 12 K. The ceramic exhibits a significant inhomogeneous broadening of spectral bands. An Er:(Lu,Sc)2O3 ceramic laser generated 342 mW at 2.71 and 2.85 µm with a high slope efficiency of 41.7% (exceeding the Stokes limit) and a laser threshold of 125 mW

Domaines: Optique [physics.optics]; Science des matériaux [cond-mat.mtrl-sci]

Liza Basyrova, Pavel Loiko, Wei Jing, Yicheng Wang, Hui Huang, et al.. Spectroscopy and efficient laser operation around 2.8 μm of Er:(Lu,Sc)2O3 sesquioxide ceramics. Journal of Luminescence, 2021, 240, pp.118373. ⟨10.1016/j.jlumin.2021.118373⟩. ⟨hal-03345626⟩