Comparative Study of Spectroscopic Properties of Pr3+-Doped LiY0.3Lu0.7F4, LiYF4 and LiLuF4 Crystals

Summary form only given. Fluoride crystals are the most common host materials for visible lasers due to large energy band gap and low phonon energy. Among the rare-earth ions, the Pr
³⁺
is very attractive ion for visible solid-state lasers. Efficient laser operation in Pr-doped crystals was obtained around 480 nm, 523 nm, 607 nm, 640 nm, 698 nm and 720 nm [1]. Mixed fluorides LiY
_x
Lu
_x-1
F
₄
crystals posses higher optical quality and require less expensive lutetium fluoride during growth in contrast to LiYF
₄
and LiLuF
₄
, respectively. Moreover, in the case of Ce
³⁺
and Nd
³⁺
ions, the mixed fluorides have higher segregation coefficient comparing to both LiYF
₄
and LiLuF
₄
crystals [2, 3]. The optimal cationic composition is x = 0.6-0.7. In this contribution, we report on the absorption and luminescence properties of Pr
³⁺
:LiY
_0.3
Lu
_0.7
F
₄
in comparison with Pr
³⁺
:LiYF 4 and Pr
³⁺
:LiLuF4 crystals. The investigated crystals were grown by the Bridgman Stockbarger method.