2 µm lasing from Tm3+-doped PbO-PbF2-Bi2O3-Ga2O3 glass microspheres

Abstract

Whispering gallery mode (WGM) lasers at ∼ 2 µ m are demonstrated in PbO- P b F 2 - B i 2 O 3 - G a 2 O 3 (PBG) heavy metal oxyfluoride glass microspheres. A 793 nm diode laser is used to pump the PBG microsphere and achieve single-mode and multimode WGM lasing. The fluorescence spectra of T m 3 + -doped PBG glasses are measured under 793 nm diode laser pumping. The maximum absorption and emission cross sections of T m 3 + : 3 F 4 → 3 H 6 are calculated to be 8.23 × 10 − 21 and 4.42 × 10 − 20 c m 2 , respectively. The experimental results indicate that these PBG glass microspheres could become an important photonic component for infrared laser applications.