Growth, luminescence, and Judd-Ofelt analysis of Pr3+ doped Bi3TeBO9 single crystal

A Pr3+:Bi3TeBO9 (Pr:BTBO) single crystal with a high Pr3+-doping concentration (1.85 x 10(21) ions/cm(3)) was grown by the top-seeded solution growth (TSSG) method. The absorption and emission spectrum were measured at room temperature and the spectroscopic parameters were calculated based on the Judd-Ofelt (J-O) theory. The results show that Pr:BTBO crystal has a large absorption cross-section of 2.009 x 10(-20) cm(2) with broad full widths at half maximum (FWHM) of 11.73 nm at 448 nm. The emission cross-section for P-3(0)-> F-3(2) at 647 nm was calculated to be 7.06 x 10(-19) cm(2), which is larger than most Pr3+-doped oxide crystals. Despite the high Pr3+ doping concentration of Pr:BTBO, its fluorescence lifetime (958.9ns) and quantum efficiency (14.3 %) of the P-3(0) level are still larger than those of most Pr3+-doped borate crystals. In addition, the optical gain for P-3(0)-> F-3(2) as well as the chromaticity coordinates and color purity of the fluorescence spectrum, were also evaluated. The present work suggests that Pr:BTBO crystal was a potential candidate for visible solid-state lasers.