Thermal lens measurements of fluorescence quantum efficiency in Nd3+-dopedfluoride glasses

In this work we used a thermal lens (TL) method in the dual beam mod-mismat ched configuration, to determine the fluorescence quantum efficiency, eta. Three kinds of Nd3+-doped fluoride glasses were studied: fluorozirconate 53 ZrF(4)-29BaF(2)-4.5LaF(3)-3.5AlF(3)-10NaF-XNdF3 (ZBLAN): fluoroaluminate 20 YF(3)-40AlF(3)-20BaF(2)-20CaF(2)-XNdF3 C(ABC) and fluoroindate 30PbF(2)-20G aF(3)-15ZnF(3)-15ZnF(2)-20CaF(2)-XNdF3 (PGIZCa); with X = 1 or 2 mol%. For all these samples we obtained the quantum efficiency, eta, between 0.80-0.9 4 and 0.67-0.76 for X = 1 and 2 mol%, respectively. The quantitative treatm ent for the TL effect provided the absolute fluorescence quantum efficiency of a sample. The TL method has been shown to be a convenient technique for quantum efficiency measurements. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.