Induced-emission cross sections in neodymium laser glasses

Abstract
A method for calculating induced-emission cross sections in neodymium laser glasses, based on simple absorbance measurements, has been demonstrated. Absorption and emission transition probabilities of four silicate-base neodymium laser glasses have been characterized in terms of the Judd-Ofelt (JO) model of crystal-field-induced electric-dipole transitions. Absolute absorption intensities in 3669A, ED-2, LSG-91H, and S33 glasses were measured and used to determine three phenomenological intensity parameters for each glass which accounted for the measured intensities to within 5 percent (rms). Emission intensities between the metastable4F_{3/2}and terminal4I Jlevels were then calculated for each glass, together with the4F_{3/2}radiative lifetime, fluorescence branching ratios, and radiative quantum efficiency. Calculated values of these quantities for 3669A and S33 glasses are compared with measured values appearing in the literature. Using experimental line shapes for the4F_{3/2} \rightarrow4I_{11/2}transitions at 1.06μ, induced-emission cross sections for these glasses were calculated.