2025/11/07 by Popelová, Dominika, Veselský, Karel, Loiko, Pavel +5
Engineering · Materials Science · Physics and Astronomy · #Applied Physics (physics.app-ph) #FOS: Physical sciences #Luminescence Properties of Advanced Materials #Optics (physics.optics) #Photorefractive and Nonlinear Optics #Solid State Laser Technologies
paper · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2511.05235
openalex publication_date 2025/11/07 · openalex created_date 2025/11/11 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
We report on the eye-safe laser performance of Tm3+-doped calcium fluoride crystals, modified with optically inactive "buffer" cations (Y3+, Lu3+, Gd3+, and La3+), under in-band diode-pumping at 1.68 um. In the free-running regime, the 1.5 at.% Tm, 4 at.% Y:CaF2 laser operates with a high slope efficiency of 47% with respect to absorbed pump power. By employing an MgF2 birefringent plate, the emission wavelength of this laser is continuously tuned over 242 nm (1820 - 2062 nm) highlighting its potential for broadly tunable and ultrafast oscillators. The spectroscopic properties of Tm3+ ions in CaF2 crystals with and without buffer ions are also compared.