Excited state absorption and energy transfer in Ho3+-doped indium fluoride glass

This investigation examines in detail the rates of energy transfer relevant to the 5I5 → 5I6 transition (at 3930 nm) in Ho3+-doped InF3 glass as a function of the Ho3+ concentration. The decay times, branching ratios and rate parameters for energy transfer were measured in this investigation for Ho3+ (x)-doped InF3 glass with x = 2, 4 and 10 mol.% and they were used as the input parameters for a rate equation analysis. Excited state absorption (ESA) initiating from the lower laser level is included in the study. Numerical simulation of CW laser emission at 3.9 μm was performed using two pump wavelengths, one for upper laser level excitation (i.e., 5I8 → 5I5 = λP1) and the other for lower laser level de-excitation (i.e., 5I6 → 5S2 = λP2). The pump wavelength λP2 = 962 nm was chosen based on the measurements of ESA and the application of the McCumber method. Critically, the estimated ESA cross section at λP2 = 962 nm (σESA = 7.1 × 10−21 cm2) is approximately sixteen times larger than ground state (5I8) absorption cross section (σGSA = 4.3 × 10−22 cm2) and ESA does not overlap with any ground state absorption process. Our calculations suggest that even for high Ho3+ concentration in which cross relaxation has been shown in a previous study to quench the 5I5 level, ESA is nevertheless strong enough to allow a sufficient population inversion required for practical CW emission.