Abstract
The pooling of energy by pairs of excited rare earth ions in crystal and glass hosts, and more complex pumping pathways involving excited state absorption, makes it possible to obtain laser emission from excited levels of the ions that lie significantly above the single photon energy of the pump source alone. With the exception of recent upconversion lasers that exploit the high pump power densities achievable in fibers, coupled with the lower phonon energies of the heavy metal fluoride glass hosts, and a single instance of room temperature operation of a Tm:YLF laser in a pulsed mode, the lasers based on rare earth doped crystals typically require a cryogenic environment for continuous operation. The present study addresses the possibility of laser operation at higher temperatures by selection of host crystal systems that offer unique properties.
© 1992 Optical Society of America
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