Spectroscopic and Lasing Properties of Highly Concentrated Glasses

A method has been advanced for the quantitative separation of the degradation channels of the electron-excitation energy of rare-earth activators, which is based on measurements of the duration of activator luminescence and of the absorption coefficient of OH-groups in concentration series of glasses. The optimal neodymium concentration has been established for obtaining the maximum gain in phosphate glasses. Preliminary lasing tests of the concentration series of phosphate and also silicate glass with a neodymium concentration of approximately 2.3 × 10 20 ions cm –3 have been performed.