Optical Characterization of Erbium Doped KY<sub>3</sub>F<sub>10</sub> Fluoride Single Crystals

Abstract

Preparation and optical characterisation of Erbium doped KY3F10 single crystals are reported. The crystals were grown using the Czochralski pulling technique. The single phase was controlled by X-ray diffraction analysis. Room temperature optical spectra were recorded between 200 and 1600 nm. They were used to fit the three phenomenological Judd-Ofelt (JO) parameters Ωt (t = 2, 4, 6). The emission transition probabilities, branching ratios and radiative lifetimes are then deduced. The possibility to use such material for laser emissions is discussed.