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Widely tunable 1.94-microm Tm:BaY2F8 laser.
Gianluca Galzerano1, Francesco Cornacchia, Daniela Parisi
1Istituto di Fotonica e Nanotecnologie, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Dipartimento di Fisica del Politecnico di Milano, Piazza Leonardo da Vinci 32, Milano 20133, Italy. gianluca.galzerano@fisi.polimi.it
Optics Letters
|May 4, 2005
Summary
A new thulium-doped barium yttrium fluoride crystal (Tm:BaY2F8) shows wide absorption and emission bands. This enables a room-temperature tunable laser operating around 1.9 micrometers.
Area of Science:
- Materials Science
- Laser Physics
- Solid-State Spectroscopy
Background:
- Barium yttrium fluoride (BaY2F8) is a promising host crystal for rare-earth doping.
- Thulium (Tm) ions offer potential for mid-infrared laser applications.
- Understanding vibronic interactions is crucial for optimizing optical properties.
Purpose of the Study:
- To grow and characterize a novel thulium-doped barium yttrium fluoride (Tm:BaY2F8) crystal.
- To investigate the optical properties, including absorption and emission spectra.
- To demonstrate a tunable laser based on this new material.
Main Methods:
- Crystal growth of Tm:BaY2F8.
- Spectroscopic analysis of absorption and emission bands.
- Laser oscillation and tuning experiments at room temperature.
Main Results:
- Successfully grew a novel BaY2F8 crystal doped with thulium ions.
- Observed extremely wide absorption and emission bands around 1.9 micrometers due to vibronic levels and electron-phonon coupling.
- Demonstrated a room-temperature tunable laser with a 210-nm tuning range (1849-2059 nm).
Conclusions:
- Tm:BaY2F8 is a highly promising material for mid-infrared laser applications.
- The observed wide spectral bands facilitate tunable laser operation.
- This work paves the way for new laser sources in the 2-micrometer spectral region.