Heat‐driven Tailored for Eliminating Nd³⁺ Re‐clusters in Nd³⁺,Gd³⁺‐codoped SrF₂ Laser Ceramic

Abstract

Transparent Nd 3+ ,Gd 3+ -codoped SrF 2 laser ceramic was fabricated by a single-crystal ceramization (SCC) technique, and the fluorescence properties were also characterized. The results indicated that the SCC process would lead to reducing fluorescence properties of ceramic by re-clustering small amount of Nd 3+ ions. In this study, the re-clustering of Nd 3+ ions were addressed by a simple thermal drive-induced grains regrowth (TDIGR) treatment. The properties of the Nd 3+ ,Gd 3+ -codoped SrF 2 laser ceramic undergo the TDIGR were improved and close to precursor Nd 3+ , Gd 3+codoped SrF 2 single crystal. Meanwhile, the transmittance of ceramic (T average@400-1400nm ~ 92%) was hardly affected by the TDIGR treatment. Therefore, we have reasons to believe that the combination of SCC and TDIGR is a suitable approach to obtain high optical quality neodymium, buffer ion-codoped alkaline-earth fluoride (Nd 3+ ,B 3+ -codoped MF 2 ) laser ceramics.