Spectroscopic studies of the 1.5 μm (4I15/2 → 4I13/2) emission from polycrystalline ceramic Er:YAG and Er:KPb2Cl5

The 1.5 μm emission from Er3+ ions continues to be of current interest for applications in optical communications and eye-safe solid-state lasers. Recently, significant attention has been focused on the development of 1.5–1.6 μm Er3+ solid-state lasers with resonant pumping of the 4I13/2 ↔ 4I15/2 transition. The motivation for resonantly pumped Er3+ lasers lies in the reduced thermal load, which is critical for high power laser application. In this work we present results of the infrared optical properties of polycrystalline ceramic Er:YAG and Er:KPb2Cl5 including absorption and emission studies, lifetime measurements, and calculations of 1.5 μm emission cross-sections using the reciprocity and Fuchtbauer–Ladenburg methods.