Concentration dependence of fluorescence and lasing efficiency in Cr2+ : ZnSe lasers

Abstract

We investigated the effect of Cr2+ concentration on the fluorescence lifetime, fluorescence efficiency, and lasing performance of Cr2+:ZnSe lasers. In the experiments, polycrystalline Cr2+:ZnSe samples with concentrations of 0.34 x 10(18)-66 x 10(18) ion/cm(3) were prepared by diffusion doping. Spectroscopic measurements performed with Cr4+:YAG and Tm3+:fiber lasers show that the fluorescence efficiency decreases monotonically with increasing active ion concentration. Lifetime measurements and lasing characterization were also performed with a pulsed 1570-nm KTP optical parametric oscillator. In gain-switched operation, the highest output energy was obtained with the Cr2+:ZnSe sample having a Cr2+ ion concentration of 14 x 10(18) cm(-3). The power performance degrades with increasing concentration due to larger passive losses at the lasing wavelength. Furthermore, the pulse build-up time and the output pulsewidth decrease with pump energy and ion concentration. Finally, with a single set of optics, tunable output could be obtained in the 2520-3050 nm wavelength range.