Spectral study of the stimulated emission of Nd3+ in fluorotellurite bulk glass

In this work we present, for the first time to our knowledge, laser emission under wavelength selective laser-pulsed pumping in Nd3+-doped TeO2-ZnO-ZnF2 bulk glass for two different Nd3+ concentrations. The fluorescence properties of Nd3+ ions in this matrix which include, Judd-Ofelt calculation, stimulated emission cross-section of the laser transition and lifetimes are also presented. The site-selective emission and excitation spectra along the I-4(9/2) -> F-4(3/2) absorption band show the inhomogeneous behaviour of the crystal field felt by Nd3+ ions in this fluorotellurite glass which allows for spectral tuning of the laser output pulse as a function of the pumping wavelength. The emission cross-section obtained from the Judd-Ofelt analysis and spectral data (4.9x10(-20) cm(2)) is in fairly good agreement with the value obtained from the analysis of the laser threshold data (4x10(-20) cm(2)). (C) 2013 Optical Society of America