Ytterbium-doped chloride photo-thermo-refractive glass: spectral, luminescent, and gain properties

Abstract We developed a new chloride photo-thermo-refractive glass doped with ytterbium ions. The dependence of optical and spectral-luminescent characteristics on ytterbium concentration has been studied. Concentration dependence of excited state decay time has been analyzed taking into account the self-trapping and self-quenching mechanisms. The optimum concentration of ytterbium ions in chloride photo-thermo-refractive glass has been determined. Other important spectroscopic parameters such as absorption and emission cross-sections, radiative lifetimes, pump saturation, and minimum pump intensities have been obtained using absorption and emission measurements and theoretical approaches such as Fuchtbauer-Landenburg and McCumber theories. The evolution of the gain cross-section spectrum as a function of a population inversion parameter has been performed. Results of this study show that the ytterbium-doped chloride photo-thermo-refractive glass demonstrates good spectroscopic and luminescent properties for laser and gain application.