CRYSTALLINE LASERS: Physical Processes and Operating Schemes. Alexander A. Kaminskii. CRC Press Boca Raton New York London Tokyo

Transcription

1 CRYSTALLINE LASERS: Physical Processes and Operating Schemes Alexander A. Kaminskii CRC Press Boca Raton New York London Tokyo

2 Table of Contents First Part Laser Insulating Crystals and Their Stimulated Emission 1 Chapter 1 Development of Crystal-Laser Physics (Short Historical Remarks) Fluorine- and Oxygen-Containing Laser Crystalline Hosts and Their Activator Ions The Laws of Crystal-Field Disorder of Ln 3+ Ions in Insulating Laser Crystals Other Laser Crystals Stimulated-Emission Channels of Activated Insulating Laser Crystals Stimulated Emission 4f N -4f N and 4f N ~ I 5d 1-4f N Channels of Ln 3+ Ions Laser Channels of Ce 3+ Ions Laser Channels of Pr 3+ Ions Laser Channels of Nd 3+ Ions Intermanifold Laser Channels of Sm 3+, Eu 3+, Tb 3+, and Dy 3+ Ions Laser Channels of Ho 3 + Ions Laser Channels of Er 3 + Ions Intermanifold Laser Channels of Tm 3+ and Yb 3+ Ions Laser Channels of Ln 2+ and U 3+ Ions Laser Channels of Cr 3+, Cr 4+, Ti 3+, and Mn 5+ Ions Laser Channels of TM 2+ Activators Crystalline Laser Hosts for Obtaining Generation of Ln 3+ Activators at New Wavelengths Laser Channels of Ln 3+ Activators in Cubic Garnet Crystals Laser Channels of Ln 3+ Activators in Orthorhombic Crystals of RA10 3 Type (R = YandLn) Laser 4f N -4f N Channels of Ln 3+ Ions in Single-Centered Anisotropic LiRF 4 and BaR 2 F 8 Fluorides (R = Y and Ln) 66

3 xiv Contents Laser Channels of Ln 3+ Activators in Monoclinic Double Potassium-Rare-Earth Tungstates Laser 4f N -4f N Channels of Ln 3+ Activators in Trigonal Fluorides with Tysonite Structure 69 References 74 Second Part Energy Levels and Optical-Transition Intensities of Generating Activators in Insulating Laser Crystals 91 Chapter 2 Stark-Level Structure of Lasing Activator Ions Basic Concepts of Modern Crystal-Field Theory Stark-Level Energies of Generating Ions in Laser Insulating Crystals (Experimental Data) 100 References 211 Chapter 3 Intensity of Radiative Transitions of Ln 3+ Activators in Insulating Laser Crystals Electric Dipole Transitions Transition Polarization Judd-Ofelt Intensity Parameters Cl t Reduced-Matrix Elements of the Tensor Operators U (t) (Table Data) Calculations of the fl t Parameters Magnetic Dipole Transitions Spectroscopic-Quality Parameters of Insulating Laser Crystals with Ln 3+ Activators Spectroscopic-Quality Parameters for Crystals Doped with Nd 3+ Ions Spectroscopic-Quality Parameters for Crystals Doped with Er 3+ Ions Spectroscopic-Quality Parameters for Crystals Doped with Pm 3+ Ions 240 References 302 Chapter 4 Multiphonon 4f N -4f N Nonradiative Transitions of Ln 3+ Activators in Laser Crystals Principal Mechanisms of the Modern Theory of Nonradiative Relaxation of Ln 3+ Ions in Crystals Covalent-Nonlinear Model Comparison between Theory and Experiment Energy-Gap Law Dependence of WJJ> on ДЕ Н ' 323 References 325

4 Contents xv Third Part Multilevel Operating Laser Schemes for the Excitation of Stimulated Emission in Activated Crystals 331 Chapter 5 Cascade Operating Schemes for Crystalline Lasers Cascade Laser Schemes for Crystals Doped with Ln 3+ Activators Cascade Laser Action in Pr 3+ and Nd 3+ Ion- Doped Crystals Cascade Laser Action in Ho 3+ Ion-Doped Crystals Cascade Laser Action in Er 3+ and Tm 3+ Ion- Doped Crystals Features of Cascade Generation of the Ln 3+ Ions in Crystals Cross-Cascade Laser Schemes for Crystals Doped withln 3+ Activators 348 References 354 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Sensitizing, Deactivating, and Feed-Flowing Operating Schemes for Crystalline Lasers Sensitizing Laser Schemes Deactivating Laser Schemes Feed-Flowing Laser Schemes Laser Action of Unlike Ln 3+ Ion-Doped Crystals 373 References 374 Stepwise Laser Operating Schemes for Crystals Doped with Ln 3+ Activator Ions Upconversion and Stimulated Emission of Ln 3+ Ions in Crystals at High-Level Energy Excitation Stepwise Upconversion Operating Schemes of Crystals Doped with the Yb 3+ + Ho 3+ System of Activators Stepwise Upconversion Operating Schemes of Crystals Doped with the Yb 3+ + Er 3+ System of Activators Anti-Stokes Lasing under Multiwavelength Excitation Pulsed 2- xm Laser Generation of BaYb 2 F 8 :Er 3+ Crystals under Flashlamp Pumping Stepwise Upconversion Operating Schemes of Crystals Doped with the Yb 3+ + Tm 3+ System of Activators 397

5 XVI Contents Flashlamp-Pumped Pulsed Laser Action of BaYb 2 F 8 :Tm 3+ Crystals at 1.5-jxm Wavelength Upconversion Operating Laser Schemes for Er 3 " 1 " Ion- Doped Crystals Operating Laser Schemes with Stepwise Absorption of Pump Quanta for YA10 3 and LiYF 4 Crystals Doped with Er 3+ Ions 402 References 402 Chapter 8 Cross-Relaxation Operating Schemes for Crystalline Lasers Cross-Relaxation Laser Operating Schemes with Quantum Efficiency Equal to "Green" 5 D 4 -s. 7 F 5 Laser Channel of Tb 3+ Ions in the LiYF 4 :Gd 3+ Crystal One-Micron 'Dj-^Fs Laser Channel of Pr 3+ Ions in the YA10 3 Crystal Three-Micron 4 1ц/ 2 >\ъп Laser Channel of Er 3+ Ions in Y 3 A Type Crystals Cross-Relaxation Laser Operating Schemes with Quantum Efficiency Equal to Two-Micron 5 I 7 -> 5 I 8 Laser Channel of Ho 3+ Ions in the Y 3 Al :Cr 3+, Tm 3+ Crystal Two-Micron 3 H 4 -> 3 H 6 Laser Channel of Tm 3+ Ions in the Y 3 Al :Cr 3+ Crystal Cross-Relaxation Laser Operating Schemes with Quantum Efficiency Equal to Two-Micron %^> Laser Channel of Ho 3+ Ions in the BaEr 2 F 8 :Tm 3+ Crystal Three-Micron 5 I 6» 5 I 7 Laser Channel of Ho 3+ Ions in the BaYb 2 F 8 Crystal (/r$l r = 3 at -n cr _ r = 4) 425 References 427 Chapter 9 Laser Operating Schemes with Strong Depopulation of the Ground States of Generating Ln 3+ Ions Ground-State Lifting a Way to Increase Crystalline-Laser Efficiency Praseodymium Laser Systems Features of the Ground-State-Lifting Scheme Power Saturation in Prepumping 3 H 4^'G 4 and 3 H 4 -^D 2 Channels Laser Action of Ln 3+ Ions in Insulating Crystals Under Condition of Ground-State-Level Depletion 443

6 Contents xvii Peculiarities of SE Excitation at Resonance 4 Рз/2*^%/2 Channel in Lasers on the Base of Y 2 SiO s :Nd 3+ Crystals at Room Temperature Photon-Avalanche Phenomena in Laser Crystals with Ln 3+ Activators Photon Avalanche in Pr 3+ Ion-Doped Laser Crystals Kinetic Model for a Photon Avalanche in Laser Crystals Doped with Pr 3+ Ions Two-Ion Mechanism Photon-Phonon Mechanism Raman Mechanism Photon-Avalanche Upconversion in the Nd 3+ :LiYF 4 Laser Photon-Avalanche Operating Scheme for Blue Laser on the Base of the LiYF 4 :Tm 3+ Crystal 466 References 467 Fourth Part Novel and Promising Technologies in the Physics and Technique of Crystalline Lasers 471 Chapter 10 New Generation of Crystalline Lasers Laser Action of Crystals Doped with Ln 3+ Ions under Selective Laser Pumping Crystalline Laser Converters Uniform Laser Pumping Profiled Laser Pumping Numerical Estimation of Ultimate Energy Input Laser Converters Based on Crystals Doped with Ln 3+ Ion Activators Laser-Diode-Pumped Crystalline Lasers Some Basic Schemes of Laser- Diode Pumping Laser Action of Crystals Doped with Ln 3+ Ions under Laser-Diode Excitation Miniature Crystalline Lasers with High Density of Waveguiding Laser Pumping Crystalline Fiber Lasers Crystalline Planar and Strip Waveguide Lasers 492

7 xviii Contents Crystalline Ribbon and Sheet Lasers Crystalline Lasers with Self-Frequency Conversion Self-Frequency Doubling Crystalline Lasers Self-SRS Crystalline Lasers Crystalline Lasers with Self-Frequency Conversion in Pumping Channels Solar-Pumped Crystalline Lasers 512 References 512 Chapter 11 Concluding Remarks The Current State in Laser-Diode-Pumped Crystalline Laser Development (Table Data) Up-to-Date Survey of Crystalline Upconversion Lasers (Table Data) Praseodymium Crystalline Lasers for the Creation of "White" Laser Light 532 References 534 Appendix A Crystalline Hosts and Lasing Ions 541 Index 553