Thermal and spectroscopic properties of Nd3+-doped novel fluorogallate glass

An Nd3+-doped fluorogallate glass with better thermal stability (T-g = 650.5 degrees C, Delta T= 190 degrees C), and lower linear thermal expansion coefficient (8.7 x 10(-6)/degrees C) compared with other commercialized laser glasses is reported in this paper. Judd-Ofelt theory is applied to the absorption spectrum of the glass to derive the intensity parameters (Omega(t)), which are in turn used to calculate the radiative properties of Nd3+ luminescent levels. The developed glass possesses the widest effective emission bandwidth (Delta lambda(eff) = 49 nm) ever reported at around 1.07 mu m, large gain bandwidth parameter (sigma(em) x Delta lambda(eff) = 102.9 x 10(-27) cm(3)), and high fluorescence quantum efficiency (eta = 66%). These results indicate that this new kind of material is an interesting candidate for laser applications. (C) 2015 Published by Elsevier B.V.