Evaluation of Mn 5+-doped Sr_5(VO_4)_3 F as a laser material based on excited-state absorption and stimulated-emission measurements

Excited-state absorption and stimulated-emission measurements of

{Mn}^{5 +}

-doped

{Sr}_{5} ({VO}_{4})_{3} F

were made with a pump-and-probe technique. Strong excited-state absorption bands were observed, corresponding to the transitions from the

^{1} E (^{1} D)

metastable level to higher-lying singlet levels. The stimulated emission from the

^{1} E (^{1} D)

level to the

^{3} A_{2} (^{3} F)

ground state is overlapped by a tail of the

^{1} E (^{1} D) \to^{1} T_{2} (^{1} D)

excited-state absorption band. The cross section of the

^{1} E (^{1} D) \to^{1} T_{2} (^{1} D)

transition at 1161 nm is

(1.4 \pm 0.3) \times 10^{- 20}

{cm}^{2}

for

E ‖ c

and

(2.4 \pm 0.5) \times 10^{- 20}

{cm}^{2}

for

E ⊥ c

. The ratio between the excited-state absorption and the stimulated-emission cross section at 1161 nm is 0.52 for

E ‖ c

and 1.82 for

E ⊥ c .

Therefore laser emission is expected to be inefficient in

E ‖ c

polarization and not to be possible in

E ⊥ c

polarization. The crystal field parameters in the cubic field approximation were determined to be

Dq = 1134

{cm}^{- 1}

B = 356 {cm}^{- 1}

, and

C = 2918 {cm}^{- 1}

, giving

Dq / B = 3.19

and

C / B = 8.20 .

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