Radiation trapping and self-quenching analysis in Yb3+, Er3+, and Ho3+ doped Y2O3

The combined case of self-trapping and self-quenching in the lifetime analysis of Yb, Er, and Ho doped Y2O3 single crystal fiber is studied. After deconvoluting theoretically the measured lifetime points, it is shown that self-quenching, for a rather large doping range, is well described by a limited diffusion process within the doping ion subsystem towards impurities analogous to the doping ions themselves. Fast diffusion towards intrinsic non-radiative centers cannot explain the observed results. As an application, a simple quantitative method for optimizing the gain material concentration for amplifiers and lasers is proposed and performed. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.