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We observed two ultrabroadband near-infrared (NIR) luminescence bands around 1.2 and 1.5 μm in as-grown bismuth-doped CsI halide crystals, without additional aftertreatment. Dependence of the NIR emission properties on the excitation wavelength and measurement temperature was studied. Two kinds of NIR active centers of subvalent bismuth and color centers were demonstrated to coexist in Bi:CsI crystal. The eye-safe 1.5 μm emission band with an FWHM of 140 nm and lifetime of 213 μs at room temperature makes Bi:CsI crystal promising in the applications of the ultrafast laser and ultrabroadband amplifier., (© 2011 Optical Society of America)

Optical spectra and luminescence decay curves were measured for thulium-doped YVO(4), GdVO(4), and LuVO(4) single crystals as a function of temperature in the 300-670 K temperature region. In spite of structural similarity, the three systems studied display significantly different transition intensities and nonradiative relaxation rates. It was found, in particular, that the peak value of the pump band absorption intensity diminishes by about 30% for Tm:YVO(4) and Tm:GdVO(4), and the effective emission cross section for the laser transition of Tm(3+) diminishes by a factor of 2 roughly when temperature increases from 300 to 500 K. An unusually small quantum efficiency of the upper laser level in Tm:LuVO(4) has been derived from the analysis of luminescence decay curves.

An Nd-doped Lu(1.5)Y(1.5)Al(5)O(12) (Nd:LuYAG) crystal was obtained by Czochralski method. Absorption and emission spectra were recorded at low and room temperature. Continuous wave (CW) and passively Q-switched laser operations of Nd:LuYAG crystal were, to our knowledge, demonstrated for the first time. A CW output power of 1.67 W with slope efficiency of 39.8% was obtained. In the passively Q-switched operation, the shortest pulse width, largest pulse energy, and highest peak power were achieved to be 9.6 ns, 61.7µJ, and 6.4 kW, respectively, with Cr(4+):YAG crystals as the saturable absorbers.

Optical spectra and luminescence decay curves were measured for erbium-doped YVO(4) and GdVO(4) single crystals as a function of temperature in the 300 K-670 K temperature region. In spite of structural similarity the two systems studied display significantly different transition intensities and nonradiative relaxation rates. It was found in particular that the intensity of parasitic upconverted emission excited at 978 nm depends weakly on temperature for YVO(4):Er(3+), whereas it decreases monotonously with increasing temperature for GdVO(4):Er(3+) and becomes negligibly small at 670 K. It was concluded that GdVO(4):Er(3+) may be a promising laser active material operating at high thermal loading conditions encountered in high-power diode-pumped IR lasers.