Characterization of spectroscopic and laser properties of Pr 3+ in Sr 5(PO 4) 3F crystal

Abstract

Spectroscopic and laser properties have been characterized for Pr 3+ incorporated into Sr 5(PO 4) 3F crystal belonging to the apatite structure family. The standard Judd-Ofelt analysis has been applied to the measured optical absorption intensities to determine the radiative decay rates, branching ratios, and emission cross sections of principal intermanifold transitions of Pr 3+ from the 1D 2 and 3P 0 states to the lower-lying manifolds in the visible region. The measured room temperature fluorescence lifetimes of the 1D 2→ 3H 4 (594 nm) and 3P 0→ 3F 2 (625 nm) transition are 325 and 105 μs, respectively, while the Judd-Ofelt analysis predicts the radiative lifetimes for the 1D 2 and 3P 0 states to be 822 and 116 μs, respectively. The room temperature emission cross sections of the 1D 2→ 3H 4 and 3P 0→ 3F 2 intermanifold transitions have been also determined to be 0.54×10 -20 and 4.15×10 -20cm 2, respectively. © 2002 American Institute of Physics.