Spectroscopic properties of Tb3+ as an ion for visible lasers

Abstract

In recent years, Tb3+-based solid-state lasers with emission in the green and yellow have seen a revival. This was owed to the availability of blue emitting semiconductor-based pump sources and recent findings, which reported more than 60% slope efficiency in the green and about 25% slope efficiency in the yellow. In this paper we review the state of the art of Tb3+-based solid-state lasers. We summarize the spectroscopic properties and present new insights, which enable us to provide valuable guidelines and recommendations for the choice of host materials to further improve the performance of Tb3+-based solid-state lasers.