Luminescent and thermo-optical properties of Nd~(3+)-doped yttrium aluminoborate laser glasses

摘要

In this work we performed a thorough spectroscopic and thermo-optical investigation of yttrium aluminoborate glasses doped with neodymium ions. A set of samples, prepared by the conventional melt-quenching technique and with Nd_2O_3 concentrations varying from 0.1 to 0.75 mol %, were characterized by ground state absorption, photoluminescence, excited state lifetime measurements, and thermal lens technique. For the neodymium emission at 1064 nm (~4F_(3/2) →~4I_(11/2) transition), no significant luminescence concentration quenching was observed and the experimental lifetime values ranged around 70 μs. The obtained values of thermal conductivity and diffusivity of approximately 10.3 × 10~(-3) W/cm K and 4.0 × 10~(-3) cm~2/s, respectively, are comparable to those of commercial laser glasses. Moreover, the fluorescence quantum efficiency of the glasses, calculated using the Judd-Ofelt formalism and luminescence decay, lies in the range from 0.28 to 0.32, larger than the typical values obtained for Nd~(3+) doped YAl_3(BO_3)_4 crystals.