Energy levels and intensity parameters of Ho3+ ions in Y3Al5O12 and Lu3Al5O12

The energy levels of the trivalent lanthanide Ho3+ in Y3Al5O12 (YAG) and LU3Al5O12 (LuAG) have been measured. The Stark split levels for the first nine Ho manifolds in these materials have been measured, and the results have been fit to a free ion plus crystal field Hamiltonian to generate a theoretical set of energy levels. Crystal field parameters were varied to determine the best fit between experimental and theoretical energy levels. The energy levels of Ho:LuAG are seen to be very similar to those in Ho:YAG. However, subtle changes resulting from replacing Y3+ With Lu3+ in the garnet crystal Y3Al5O12 result in different transition wavelengths in LuAG. This has implications for Ho I-5(7) -> I-5(8) lasers operating at similar to 2.1 mu m. Although the energy levels have been measured previously in Ho:YAG, they have not been measured in Ho:YAG. A comparison of the energy levels in HoXAG measured here show some discrepancies with previous measurements. The consistency of the energy level placements between Ho:LuAG and Ho:YAG indicate that the earlier studies may have some errors in the assignments. Finally, a Judd-Ofelt analysis is performed on Ho:YAG and Ho:LuAG to determine the intensity parameters, and thus, the transition probabilities and branching ratios of the first eight excited manifolds. (c) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.