Energy transfer upconversion determination by thermal-lens and Z-scan techniques in Nd3+-doped laser materials

The Z-scan and thermal-lens techniques have been used to obtain the energy transfer upconversion parameter in Nd3+-doped materials. A comparison between these methods is done, showing that they are independent and provide similar results. Moreover, the advantages and applicability of each one are also discussed. The results point to these approaches as valuable alternative methods because of their sensitivity, which allows measurements to be performed in a pump-power regime without causing damage to the investigated material. (C) 2009 Optical Society of America