Spectroscopic, luminescent and laser properties of nanostructured CaF2:Tm materials

The laser quality transparent CaF2:Tm fluoride ceramics has been prepared by hot forming. Comparative study of absorption and emission spectra of CaF2:Tm (4 mol.% TmF3) ceramic and single crystal samples demonstrated that these materials possess almost identical spectroscopic properties. Laser oscillations of CaF2:Tm ceramics were obtained at 1898 nm under diode pumping, with the slope efficiency of 5.5%. Also, the continuous-wave (CW) laser have been obtained for CaF2:Tm single crystal at 1890 nm pumped by a diode laser was demonstrated. (c) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.