Abstract
Although divalent Sm in CaF2 was the first rare earth (RE) system to exhibit laser action, trivalent RE compounds have dominated solid-state laser development up to the present. Divalent RE ions are of interest because the d levels are generally much lower in energy than in RE3+ ions. As a result, the broad 4f - 5d absorption bands are often centered in the visible region. The dipole allowed 5d - 4f transitions are expected to possess high emission crosssections and broadly tunable emission Unfortunately, except for Sm2+:CaF2, laser emission in RE2+ crystals is often due to f-f transitions characterized by long lifetimes and low cross-sections.
© 1987 Optical Society of America
PDF ArticleMore Like This
J. K. Lawson and Stephen A. Payne
LM15 Advanced Solid State Lasers (ASSL) 1992
D. Knowles, Z. Zhang, H. Chou, D. Gabbe, and H. P. Jenssenv
TuD15 Advanced Solid State Lasers (ASSL) 1987
M. Henke, K. Rademaker, and S. Kück
CFH7 The European Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics (CLEO/Europe) 2000