Abstract

In crystalline solid-state laser materials, defects in the host lattice can act as energy sinks, draining energy from the dopant ions which would otherwise have contributed to the lasing transition. Conversely, in some fluorescent materials, the transfer of energy from defects to dopants can cause an undesirable persistence of luminescence to occur. Understanding and controlling these defects can be critical to the development of a laser or phosphor source.

© 1987 Optical Society of America