Thermal lens measurements of fluorescence quantum efficiency in Nd 3+-doped fluoride glasses

Abstract

In this work we used a thermal lens (TL) method in the dual beam mod-mismatched configuration, to determine the fluorescence quantum efficiency, η. Three kinds of Nd 3+-doped fluoride glasses were studied: fluorozirconate 53ZrF 4–29BaF 2–4.5LaF 3–3.5AlF 3–10NaF– XNdF 3 (ZBLAN); fluoroaluminate 20YF 3–40AlF 3–20BaF 2–20CaF 2– XNdF 3 (YABC) and fluoroindate 30PbF 2–20GaF 3–15InF 3–15ZnF 2–20CaF 2– XNdF 3 (PGIZCa); with X = 1 or 2 mol%. For all these samples we obtained the quantum efficiency, η, between 0.80–0.94 and 0.67–0.76 for X = 1 and 2 mol%, respectively. The quantitative treatment for the TL effect provided the absolute fluorescence quantum efficiency of a sample. The TL method has been shown to be a convenient technique for quantum efficiency measurements.