Absorption and Fluorescence of Alexandrite and of Titanium in Sapphire and Glass

Abstract

An assessment of ions and hosts as candidates for new laser materials can be made from absorption and fluorescence measurements. Predictions of important laser parameters such as gain, absorption, and emission cross-sections can be readily made from this data. Titanium in crystalline sapphire exhibits a broad fluorescence spectrum with a peak near 750nm. A search for new laser host materials for Ti(III) has shown that Ti:YA103 also exhibits a broad fluorescence spectra with the peak blue shifted by about 150nm (ref. 1). We undertook a study of Ti(III) in glass hosts which should exhibit an extreme low field case for the ion (ref. 2). We present here the results of fluorescence and absorption experiments made, to date, on titanium in crystalline sapphire, at two dopant levels, and titanium doped into three glass structures and compare these results with those of alexandrite.