Fe:ZnMnTe laser generating around 5 um at 78 K

Abstract

Iron doped II-VI binary and ternary semiconductor materials are developed for mid-infrared (mid-IR) laser applications and some of them (ZnSe, ZnMnSe, ZnMgSe, CdMnTe) were already proven as laser active materials. In this article, the spectroscopic and laser properties of novel Fe2+ doped Zn1-xMnxTe (x ≈ 0.3) active material synthesized using Bridgman technique is presented. This active material was pumped by an Er:YAG laser at ~3 μm as well as Fe:ZnSe laser at 4.1 μm and has demonstrated various spectroscopic and laser output characteristics within the temperature range from 78 up to 300 K. At ~3 μm pumping, the central oscillation wavelength was ~4.8 μm at 78 K and shifted to 5.15 μm at 160 K. At 4.1 μm pumping, the central oscillation wavelength was red-shifted to ~4.9 μm at 78 K and shifted to 5.25 μm at 160 K. The output energy at 10 μJ level was achieved. These results present a great potential of the Fe2+:Zn1-xMnxTe (x ≈ 0.3) crystal for mid-IR laser radiation generation.