Dependence of the4F3/2→4I11/2induced-emission cross section for Nd3+on glass composition

Systematic studies of spectral intensities using the Judd-Ofelt (J-O) theory for crystal-field-induced electric-dipole transitions demonstrate that Nd-doped glasses can be tailored for specific laser applications by proper selection of the glass constituents. Variations with glass composition are reported for the following properties: induced-emission cross section, peak fluorescence wavelength, effective fluorescence bandwidth, radiative lifetime, transition probabilities, and fluorescence branching ratios. Both glass network formers and network-modifier ions were changed. In these studies the induced-emission cross section for the Nd
³⁺
,
⁴
F_{3/2} \rightarrow
⁴
I_{11/2}
laser transition was varied by more than a factor of 4 by changing the glass host.