Optical spectroscopy of holmium doped K 2 LaCl 5
Spectroscopic results on the infrared emission properties of trivalent holmium (Ho 3+ ) doped potassium lanthanum chloride (K 2 LaCl 5 ) are presented. Using ~900 nm excitation, Ho 3+ doped K 2 LaCl 5 , which has a maximum phonon energy of 235 cm –1 , exhibited the infrared emissions at ~1660, ~1995, and ~3900 nm at room temperature. The mid-infrared emission at 3900 nm originated from the 5 I 5 → 5 I 6 transition of Ho 3+ ions with an exponential decay time of ~7.8 ms at room temperature. The fluorescence lifetimes were almost independent of temperature, indicating a negligibly small non-radiative decay rate for the 5 I 5 excited state, as predicted by the energy gap law for low phonon energy hosts. The Stark level energies of the lower 5 I J manifolds in Ho:K 2 LaCl 5 were resolved from spectroscopic results performed at cryogenic temperatures. The transition line-strengths, radiative lifetimes, and fluorescence branching ratios were investigated by using the Judd-Ofelt method. In addition, the peak emission cross-section of the 5 I 5 → 5 I 6 transition was calculated to be 1.8 × 10 –20 cm 2 at ~3890 nm.