Optical study of La₃Ga_5.5Ta_0.5O₁₄ single crystal co-doped with Ho³⁺ and Yb³⁺

Abstract

Single crystal of La₃Ga_5.5Ta_0.5O₁₄ (LGT) containing intentionally 0.5 % of Ho³⁺ and 1 % of Yb³⁺ was grown by the Czochralski method. Examination of chemical composition of the grown crystal revealed that luminescent holmium and ytterbium ions are preferably retained in the melt and their actual concentrations are 0.12 and 0.24 %, respectively. Spectroscopic investigation performed encompassed IR host absorption spectra and Raman spectra at room temperature, optical absorption and luminescence spectra of Ho³⁺ and Yb³⁺ at room temperature and at 5 K, and luminescence decay curves at room temperature. It was found that all spectral bands recorded show important inhomogeneous line broadening. This feature was attributed to structural disorder inherent to the crystal lattice in which pentavalent Ta⁵⁺ ions occupy octahedral Ga(1) sites together with trivalent Ga³⁺ ions. Despite small concentrations of luminescent ions, the occurrence of nonradiative interaction that feeds the ⁵I₆ and ⁵I₇ levels of Ho³⁺ ions by transfer of an excitation from the ²F_5/2 level of Yb³⁺ ions was evidenced. Based on examination of spectroscopic parameters evaluated, it was concluded that LGT:Ho, Yb may be considered as a potential intermediate-gain laser active material able to emit infrared radiation from the ⁵I₇ → ⁵I₈ transition of Ho³⁺ around 2 micrometres upon laser-diode pumping into Yb³⁺ absorption band.