IEEE JOURNAL OF QUANTUM ELECTRONICS, VOL. 43, NO.

9, SEPTEMBER 2007

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Thermal and Optical Properties of Yb3+and Nd3+-Doped Phosphate Glasses Determined by Thermal Lens Technique
Djalmir N. Messias, Carlos Jacinto, Maria Jose V. Bell, and Tomaz Catunda
AbstractIn this work, we study the thermal and optical properties of ion-doped phosphates glasses using the thermal lens (TL) technique. Three samples were characterized: Nd3+ -doped Q-98; Nd3+ -doped Q-100; and Yb3+ -doped QX. We report multiwavelength TL measurements for a more accuracy determination of the uorescence quantum efciency and temperature coefcient of the optical path length change ( ). In Nd-doped glasses, it was carried out using four discrete excitation wavelengths (between 514 and 872 nm) chosen to match with the ion absorption lines. In Yb-doped glass, the spectrum of heat generated along the 2 7 2 ) was obtained. In addition, paYb3+ transition (2 5 2 rameters as thermal diffusivity and conductivity, thermal loading, etc were achieved. The advantages to obtain uorescence quantum efciency using the TL technique, mainly in Yb3+ doped materials, which are normally overestimated due to radiation trapping effect, are presented. The accuracy knowledge of these parameters is very important for design of high-power solid-state lasers, since these properties are directly related to the heat generation. Index TermsFluorescence quantum efciency, laser materials, neodymium, thermal lensing, thermooptical properties, ytterbium.

I. INTRODUCTION HOSPHATE glasses have been identied as one of the most promising glassy matrix for several applications. When doped with Yb , it could be used for ultrahigh power laser systems, presenting superior energy storage capability, a gain bandwidth able to support amplication of femtosecond pulses. It also presents a at absorption spectrum around 940 nm that makes it suitable for diode pumping [1][3]. In general, Yb -doped systems show small quantum defect, which results in a low heat generation per excited ion. Besides it presents absence of excited state absorption, which could lead to drastic reductions in the laser slope efciency as well as to noticeable increments in the laser thermal loading [4], [5].
Manuscript received January 12, 2007; revised April 10, 2007. This work was supported in part by the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Cientco e Technolgico (CNPq) and the Fundao de Amparo Pesquisa do Estado de So Paolo (FAPESP). D. N. Messias is with the Instituto de Fsica, Universidade Federal de Uberlndia, CEP 38400-902 Uberlndia-MG, Brazil (e-mail: dnmessias@ins.ufu. br). C. Jacinto is with the Instituto de Fsica, Universidade Federal de Alagos, CEP 57072-970 Macei-AL, Brazil (e-mail: cjacinto@if.ufal.br). M. J. V. Bell is with the Departamento de Fsica, Universidade Federal de Juiz de Fora, CEP 36036-330 Juiz de Fora-MG, Brazil (e-mail: mjbell@sica. ufjf.br). T. Catunda is with Instituto de Fsica de So Carlos, Universidade de So Paulo, CEP 13560-970 So Carlos-SP, Brazil (e-mail: tomaz@if.sc.usp.br). Digital Object Identier 10.1109/JQE.2007.902381

Owing to these characteristics of Yb-doped materials, it was recently demonstrated slope efciencies as high as 74% and 88% in Yb-doped crystal and glass, respectively [5], [6]. In this latter case, it was in Yb -doped QX phosphate glass studied in this work [5]. When doped with Nd , the phosphate glasses present high uorescence quantum efciency compared with aluminates [7], and similar to that of uorides [8], [9]. These characteristics allied to excellent thermal and mechanical properties make them the most common and the largest bulk volume laser glass produced nowadays [10]. Indeed, terawatt peak power has already been achieved in this host material [11], which increases the need for more accurate photothermal parameters, since in the high-power domain a crucial issue is the control of heat generation, and it is directly related to thermooptical properties. For instance, the achievement of high-power laser systems with a high beam quality is largely compromised by thermal effects in the gain medium, which are responsible for thermal lensing, depolarization losses, and ultimately fracture [4]. Therefore, the aim of this work is the study of the thermal and optical properties of Nd and Yb-doped phosphate glasses, which are keys for high-power solid-state lasers, using a reliable techniquethe thermal lens approach. II. THEORY AND EXPERIMENTS A. Thermal Lensing The thermal lens (TL) effect is caused by the deposition of heat via non-radiative decay processes after the laser energy has been absorbed by the sample. In this situation a transverse temperature gradient is established generating a temperature co, creating a efcient of the optical path length change lens-like optical element: the so-called TL effect. In the dual beam mode-mismatched conguration presented in Fig. 1, the propagation of a probe laser beam through this TL results in a , which can be calculated variation of its on axis intensity using diffraction integral theory [12]. In the transient regime an analytical expression can be obtained for the probe beam inten[13] sity

(1) where when (2)

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IEEE JOURNAL OF QUANTUM ELECTRONICS, VOL. 43, NO. 9, SEPTEMBER 2007

Fig. 2. TL transient signal for Q-98 sample doped with 1.1 10 Nd =cm , at  = 801:6 nm and excitation power of 180 mW. The curve tting provided  = (0:0933 0:0003) rad and t = (3:96 0:04) ms.

which is also called absolute nonradiative quantum efciency is the temperature or fractional thermal loading; and coefcient of the optical path length change. When only one radiative emission channel is active, as in Yb and mostly Nd doped materials, is given by [4], [13]
Fig. 1. (a) Schematic diagram of the mode-mismatched thermal lens experimental apparatus, where M are mirrors, P are photodetectors, and L are convergent lenses. The angle between the excitation and the probe beams is indicated by . (b) Scheme of the geometric position of the excitation and probe beams.

(6) is the exciwhere is the uorescence quantum efciency, is the inverse of the average emistation wavelength, and sion wavelength. Originally the TL technique in its theory was developed mainly considering experiments in liquid samples where . In the case of homogenous solid samples, the original TL theory [14] can be applied just by replacing by , which is given by three contributions: , end-face curvature, and thermal stress. For the case of thin disk geometry, i.e., the sample thickness much smaller considering these three than diameter, the expression for contributions is given by [15][19] (7) the rewhere is the linear thermal-expansion coefcient, fractive index, the Poisson ratio, the Young modulus, and are the stress-optical coefcients for the parallel and perpendicular orientation relative to excitation beam polarization. The second term in (7) represents the end-face curvature due to larger expansion of the hotter center compared to the edge of the sample. The fact that the cooler part of the sample prevents expansion of the its hotter center generates thermal stress, given by is the third term in (7). It should be noted that the quantity normalized by the sample length , so that calling the sample . In the literature, it is usually optical path, , which is valid for a unifound and the formly distributed temperature rise. The terms stress-optical coefcients appear in (7) due to the lens-like shape of TL temperature prole. For instance, for LG-750, using [10] data, we calculated K and K (in this calculation the last term in (7), related to stress optical coefcients, was neglected). Therefore,

Here, is the confocal distance of the probe beam, is the distance between the probe beam waist and the sample, is is the the distance between the sample and the photodiode, is the excitation laser beam probe beam radius at the sample, when the transient time radius at the sample, and or is zero. The temporal evolution of the TL signal depends on the characteristic TL signal time, , which is related to the thermal diffusivity by: (3) and this to the thermal conductivity by (4) where is the density and the specic heat. The TL transient signal amplitude, , is approximately the and phase difference of the probe beam at induced by TL, and it is given by (5) in which is the probe beam wavelength, is the absorbed pump power, which can be determined by , where is the excitation beam power, , is the sample thickness, and is absorption coefcient of the sample at the excitation wavelength; is the fraction of absorbed energy converted into heat,

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TABLE I THERMAL DIFFUSIVITY (D), THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY (K), SPECIFIC HEAT ( ), AND DENSITY ( ) OF PHOSPHATE GLASSES

[ ] Calculated with present data and using (3).

the values of and can be signicantly different, particularly in athermal materials where normally is negative. In addition, since (7) was derived for thin disks, it is particularly suitable for diode-pumped thin disk lasers, where the pump power is concentrated in a relatively small diameter. B. Experiments Three types of phosphate glasses were studied in this work: QX, Q-98, and Q-100. The former is doped with Yb (5.8 10 Yb ions/cm ) and the other ones with Nd (1.1 10 and 10.3 10 Nd ions/cm , respectively). All of them were manufactured by Kigre Inc. The TL experiments were performed using the time-resolved mode mismatched conguration, Fig. 1(a) [13], in which excitation beam was provided by an Ar and/or Ti:sapphire lasers and a HeNe laser at 632.8 nm was used as probe beam. The excicm , tation beam was focused by a converging lens and the sample was put at its focal plane, Fig. 1(b). A chopper controlled the exposure of the sample to the excitation beam. cm arranged The probe beam was focused by lens in such a way that the sample is positioned nearby its confocal 1.73 . In the transient experiment, an oscilposition loscope was used to record the TL signal build up. More details about TL experiment can be found elsewhere [13], [18]. III. RESULTS A. Thermal Diffusivity and Conductivity Fig. 2 shows a typical TL transient signal obtained from a Q-98 glass sample. The excitation power used in this transient was 180 mW. The solid curve represents the obtained adjust from (1). As an example, the thermal diffusivity cm was obtained from [(3)] and . In order to accurately determine for each sample, and were ob. tained from several transients at various excitation powers, All the measurements were performed in the low pump power regime, so that one could avoid saturation effects and energy transfer upconversion, which is common in Nd -doped matewas obrials. Therefore, a linear dependence of versus served for each sample, indicating good determination of these parameters and absence of saturation.

Fig. 3. Dependence of the photothermal parameter with excitation beam wavelength ( ) for Q-98 sample with 1.1 10 Nd cm .

The thermal conductivity was calculated with (4), since the density and specic heat were known. Table I resumes the results of and for all samples studied in the present work and some of the literature for comparison. B. Fluorescence Quantum Efciency and The TL multiwavelength (TLM) [9] was used for determina. To this end, it is opportune to dene a tion of , , and normalized phase shift parameter as (8) is a constant that depends only where of sample characteristics and of the probe beam wavelength. do not depend on , the Therefore, since , , and could provide the constant and . spectrum of with for the Q-98 Fig. 3 shows the dependence of glass doped with 1.1 10 Nd ions/cm . These measurements were performed using a Ti:sapphire laser tuned at the 745, 801.5 main Nd near-infrared absorption lines ( nm from an Ar laser. Since the and 872 nm) and

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IEEE JOURNAL OF QUANTUM ELECTRONICS, VOL. 43, NO. 9, SEPTEMBER 2007

(8), which leads to the decreasing behavior presented in Fig. 4(b), where it is plotted the TL signal normalized by the absorbed pump power , and from which and were obtained by means of the linear adjust. From this t we and have found . From the constant, was then , , obtained. Tables II and III resume the results of , , etc for all samples studied and for other ones of the is literature for comparison. The term the response function of the sample [13]. IV. DISCUSSION
Fig. 4. (a) Thermal lens ( ) and optical ( = 1 exp( )) spectra from QX doped with 6.8 wt.% of Yb O (5.8 10 Yb ions/cm ). (b) Dependence of the photothermal parameter with excitation beam wave) for Yb-doped QX glass. length (

=P

AL 2 2

0A L

A. Thermal Properties for the maThe thermal properties such as , , and jority of phosphate glasses are very similar. This indicates that these parameters are commanded for the main compositions of are northe phosphate materials. To phosphate host, and mally smaller than to aluminates (LSCAS) [7] and silicate, and are similar to uorides (ZBLAN, PGIZCa) and chalcogenides (GLS)[8], [13], [18]. value includes As mentioned above, the obtained , thermal expansion and stress. For most oxides glasses and crystals, depending on the composition/structure, the three terms in (7) are positive. On the other hand, materials with , such as uorides and phosphates, [8], [10], negative [18], [25] are interesting to minimize . For instance, for K so is smaller than Q-98 (see Table II) due to the opposite sign of and [15][17]. Similarly, uoride the other contributions to glasses present negative and also (for ZBLAN K ) [26]. As discussed in the Section II-A, (7) is normally used in litof the right erature without the third term and the factor side [10], [27]. However, this third contribution is normally negligible compared to the others [26]. For most of the phosphate 0.25 [10], thus, this leads to a difference of 25% in glasses the second term of the (7). In principle, this elucidates the higher that we obtain using the TL technique, when values for compared with those of other phosphates (see Table II and [10]). parameter, this is a very interesting constant Regarding (desirable to be near factor because it relates the ratio of zeroathermal systems) with (desirable to be as large as possible). Therefore, is required to be close to zero. In this respect, the phosphates present better thermal properties than uorides (as ZBLAN) and aluminosilicate (as LSCAS) glasses. can be used to determine the TL dioptric The TL data , dened as the inverse of the TL focal length power , which is given in the steady state by [15] (9) Since the stability criterion in resonators is that should be higher than the cavity length [28], materials with small and are very desirable. In this way, the phosphates glasses studied in this work are very interesting because they present close to zero. It is important to remark that is common in

parameters and are obtained from the linear t of Fig. 3 data, the TLM method does not require comparison with a reference sample (standard TL approach), which normally increases the uncertainty on determination. For instance, usually the reference is an undoped sample that presents very low optical absorption coefcient at the pump wavelength, conducting to and thus of . Other difcult accuracy determination of disadvantage of the standard method is that not always the reference sample is available. For TLM approach, in general, the range, the higher the obtained accuracy of the higher the measurement. However, it also presents its disadvantages as the requirement of several pumping sources, realignment of the experimental setup for each used pump wavelength, etc. In this viewpoint, the availability of several thermal lens methods for determination is very interesting, making TL a versatile and powerful tool for characterization of optical materials. The TLM method suits very well to Nd -doped solids level decay because all energy levels excited above the nonradiatively in cascade to this one (similarly for Yb -doped materials, which presents only two levels). Consequently, do not depend on . This the emitted spectrum and determination (the linear dependence of the method for ) has already been explored in photothermal signal with other photothermal techniques as photoacoustic [20], [21] and photocalorimetry [22]. However, TL technique has proved to be more sensitive and accurate [4], [15], [23]. A detailed comparison of photothermal TL methods with other ones used for determination is presented in [24]. Just as done in Q-98 glass, the TLM method was applied for other phosphate glasses in study. Fig. 4 presents the redoped QX. The sample was pumped with a sults for Yb Ti:sapphire laser tuned around level. Fig. 4(a) shows , and optical, , spectra. the thermal, This latter was obtained from the optical linear absorption spectrum of the Yb -doped QX glass. The proportionality between and spectra is clearly observed in all used excitation wavelength range, as expected . The small difference for by (5), since wavelength lower than 980 nm is due to the quantum defect

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TABLE II THERMAL LENS PHASE SHIFT NORMALIZED BY THE EXCITATION POWER (=P ), CONSTANT C = ( K) ds=dT , TEMPERATURE COEFFICIENT OF THE OPTICAL PATH LENGTH CHANGE OBTAINED FROM TL MEASUREMENTS (ds=dT j ) AND CALCULATED (ds=dT j )

Calculated using (7) without the third term.

TABLE III LIFETIME ( ), FLUORESCENCE QUANTUM EFFICIENCY ( ), AND THERMAL LOADING (') OF PHOSPHATE GLASSES

B. Optical Properties In rare-earth doped solids it is generally accepted that the experimental decay rate is given by the sum of radiative and non. radiative contributions, In Nd-doped solids, the nonradiative decay from the level is normally attributed to the multiphonon decay, energy and concentratransfer to hydroxyl groups Nd tion quenching (energy transfer among Nd ions). Although phosphate glasses have high phonon energy 1200 cm , 200 is small comthe multiphonon relaxation rate pared to the radiative one [31][33]. Despite the fact that these glasses are especially susceptible to contamination by water during manufacture, the value obtained for Q-98 glass is relatively high, in agreement with photo-calorimetric (in Q-88) [22] and integrating-sphere (in LG-750) [31] measurements in other phosphates. In addiction, it is well known that an increase in ion concentration induces interactions between pairs of ions, depopemitting level. This explains the lower uoresulating the cence quantum efciency for Q-100 glass, since its concentration is relatively high. The values for Q-98 and Q-100 glasses obtained by TL are comparable with those determined through and the Judd-Ofelt model in the same samples [24]. For Yb -doped materials, multiphonon decay must be neglected owing to large separation between the two levels of this ion, 10 000 cm . The main mechanisms that leads to reduction of in Yb -doped systems is energy transfer to impurities, which is enhanced by energy migration due to large superposition between absorption and emission bands. The Yb -doped QX studied in this work presents higher value ( 20%) than the Sample-N of the [4] with equal concentration, which shows absence of OH radicals (Sample-N is a home made glass). Therefore, QX glasses should also show absence of OH groups.

[ ] h

i = 1000 nm; [

]h

i = 1054 nm

the literature the use of this expression (9) with instead of [29], [30]. In some cases this might lead to large difference between the calculated and measured focal length values such as that obtained by Ozygus et al. [30] for YAG, since the is approximately twice larger than [15].

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V. CONCLUSIONS In conclusion, we have demonstrated the usefulness of the mode-mismatched thermal lens technique to determine thermal and optical properties such as thermal diffusivity and conductivity, temperature coefcient of the optical path length changes, uorescence quantum efciency, and thermal loading of solid samples, in the case of phosphate glasses. To uorescence quantum efciency determination we have used the TLM method, which is very promising since it does not need a reference sample. The TLM approach has been proved to be sensible to the losses mechanisms (discussed above) in the Nd -doped samples. Moreover, for Yb -doped sample, it was shown that its two level system-like structure supports high ion concentration without signicantly decrease of . The thermal diffusivity and conductivity of phosphate glasses are similar to uorides and chalcogenides, and smaller than that of silicate. On the other hand, the temperature coefcient of the optical path length changes of phosphates is smaller than for other systems, nearing of zero, which is excellent for laser materials. ACKNOWLEDGMENT The authors would like to thank M. Myers and J. Myers, Kigre Inc., for providing the glass samples. REFERENCES
[1] S. Paoloni, J. Hein, T. Topfer, H. G. Walther, R. Sauerbrey, D. Ehrt, and W. Wintzer, Laser beam induced optical aberrations in phosphate and uoride phosphate glasses, Appl. Phys. B, vol. 78, pp. 415419, 2004. [2] C. Honninger, F. Morier-Genoud, M. Moser, U. Keller, L. R. Brovelli, and C. Harder, Efcient and tunable diode-pumped femtosecond Yb:Glass lasers, Opt. Lett., vol. 23, pp. 126128, 1998. [3] H. Liu, S. Biswal, J. Paye, J. Nees, G. Mourou, C. Honninger, and U. Keller, Directly diode-pumped millijoule subpicosecond Yb: Glass regenerative amplier, Opt. Lett., vol. 24, pp. 917919, 1999. [4] C. Jacinto, S. L. Oliveira, L. A. O. Nunes, T. Catunda, and M. J. V. Bell, Thermal lens study of the OH-inuence on the uorescence efciency of Yb -doped phosphate glasses, Appl. Phys. Lett., vol. 86, p. 071911, 2005. [5] D. Jaque, J. C. Lagomacini, C. Jacinto, and T. Catunda, Continuouswave diode-pumped Yb:Glass laser with near 90% slope efciency, Appl. Phys. Lett., vol. 89, p. 121101, 2006. [6] M. O. Ramirez, D. Jaque, J. A. S. Garcia, L. E. Bausaa, and J. E. M. Santiuste, 74% slope efciency from a diode-pumped Yb : LiNbO : MgO laser crystal, Appl. Phys. B, vol. 77, pp. 621623, 2003. [7] N. G. C. Astrath, J. H. Rohling, A. C. Bento, M. L. Baesso, C. Jacinto, S. M. Lima, L. A. O. Nunes, and T. Catunda, Fluorescence quantum efciency in Nd O -doped aluminosilicate glasses by multiwavelength thermal lens method, J. Phys. IV, vol. 125, pp. 185187, 2005. [8] A. A. Andrade, T. Catunda, R. Lebullenger, A. C. Hernandes, and M. L. Baesso, Thermal lens measurements of uorescence quantum efciency in Nd -doped uoride glasses, J. Non-Cryst. Solids, vol. 284, pp. 255260, 2001. [9] S. M. Lima, A. A. Andrade, R. Lebullenger, A. C. Hernandes, T. Catunda, and M. L. Baesso, Multiwavelength thermal lens determination of uorescence quantum efciency of solids: Application to Nd -doped uoride glass, Appl. Phys. Lett., vol. 78, pp. 32203222, 2001. [10] J. H. Campbell and T. I. Suratwala, Nd-doped phosphate glasses for high-energy/high-peak-power lasers, J. Non-Cryst. Solids, vol. 263, pp. 318341, 2000. [11] C. N. Danson, J. Collier, D. Neely, L. J. Barzanti, A. Damerell, C. B. Edwards, M. H. R. Hutchinson, M. H. Key, P. A. Norreys, D. A. Pepler, I. N. Ross, P. F. Taday, W. T. Toner, M. Trentelman, F. N. Walsh, T. B. Winstone, and R. W. W. Wyatt, Well characterized 10 W/cm operation of VULCANAn ultrahigh power Nd:Glass laser, J. Mod. Opt., vol. 45, pp. 16531669, 1998.

[12] S. J. Sheldon, L. V. Knight, and J. M. Thorne, Laser-induced thermal lens effectA new theoretical-model, Appl. Opt., vol. 21, pp. 16631669, 1982. [13] C. Jacinto, D. N. Messias, A. A. Andrade, S. M. Lima, M. L. Baesso, and T. Catunda, Thermal lens and Z-scan measurements: Thermal and optical properties of laser glassesA review, J. Non-Cryst. Solids, vol. 352, pp. 35823597, 2006. [14] J. Shen, R. D. Lowe, and R. D. Snook, A model for CW laser-induced mode-mismatched dual-beam thermal lens spectrometry, Chem. Phys., vol. 165, pp. 385396, 1992. [15] C. Jacinto, A. A. Andrade, T. Catunda, S. M. Lima, and M. L. Baesso, Thermal lens spectroscopy of Nd:YAG, Appl. Phys. Lett., vol. 86, p. 034104, 2005. [16] M. Sparks, Optical distortion by heated windows in high-power laser systems, J. Appl. Phys., vol. 42, pp. 50295046, 1971. [17] W. Koechner, Solid-State Laser Engineering. New York: SpringerVerlag, 1988. [18] S. M. Lima, J. A. Sampaio, T. Catunda, A. C. Bento, L. C. M. Miranda, and M. L. Baesso, Mode-mismatched thermal lens spectrometry for thermo-optical properties measurement in optical glasses: A review, J. Non-Cryst. Solids, vol. 273, pp. 215227, 2000. [19] M. L. Baesso, J. Shen, and R. D. Snook, Mode-mismatched thermal lens determination of temperature-coefcient of optical-path length in soda lime glass at different wavelengths, J. Appl. Phys., vol. 75, pp. 37323737, 1994. [20] A. Rosencwaig and E. A. Hildum, Nd uorescence quantum-efciency measurements with photo-acoustics, Phys. Rev. B, vol. 23, pp. 33013307, 1981. [21] J. A. Munoz, J. O. Tocho, and F. Cusso, Experimental determination of the luminescent quantum efciency of the laser emitting level of Nd ions in lithium niobate, Europhys. Lett., vol. 43, pp. 159164, 1998. [22] A. J. Ramponi and J. A. Caird, Fluorescence quantum efciency and optical heating efciency in laser crystals and glasses by laser calorimetry, J. Appl. Phys., vol. 63, pp. 54765484, 1988. [23] C. Jacinto, S. L. Oliveira, T. Catunda, A. A. Andrade, J. D. Myers, and M. J. Myers, Upconversion effect on uorescence quantum efciency and heat generation in Nd -doped materials, Opt. Exp., vol. 13, pp. 20402046, 2005. [24] C. Jacinto, S. L. Oliveira, L. A. O. Nunes, J. D. Myers, M. J. Myers, and T. Catunda, Normalized lifetimes thermal lens method for the determination of luminescence quantum efciency and thermo-optical coefcients: Application to Nd -doped glasses, Phys. Rev. B, vol. 73, p. 125107, 2006. [25] S. M. Lima, T. Catunda, R. Lebullenger, A. C. Hernandes, M. L. Baesso, A. C. Bento, and L. C. M. Miranda, Temperature dependence of thermo-optical properties of uoride glasses determined by thermal lens spectrometry, Phys. Rev. B, vol. 60, pp. 1517315178, 1999. [26] A. A. Andrade, T. Catunda, I. Bodnar, J. Mura, and M. L. Baesso, Thermal lens determination of the temperature coefcient of optical path length in optical materials, Rev. Sci. Inst., vol. 74, pp. 877880, 2003. [27] D. F. De Sousa, L. A. O. Nunes, J. H. Rohling, and M. L. Baesso, Laser emission at 1077 nm in Nd -doped calcium aluminosilicate glass, Appl. Phys. B, vol. 77, pp. 5963, 2003. [28] M. Montes, D. Jaque, Z. D. Luo, and Y. D. Huang, Short-pulse generation from a resonantly pumped NdAl (BO )( )) microchip laser, Opt. Lett., vol. 30, pp. 397399, 2005. [29] M. E. Innocenzi, H. T. Yura, C. L. Fincher, and R. A. Fields, Thermal modeling of continuous-wave end-pumped solid-state lasers, Appl. Phys. Lett., vol. 56, pp. 18311833, 1990. [30] B. Ozygus and J. Erhard, Thermal lens determination of end-pumped solid-state lasers with transverse beat frequencies, Appl. Phys. Lett., vol. 67, pp. 13611362, 1995. [31] J. A. Caird, A. J. Ramponi, and P. R. Staver, Quantum efciency and excited-state relaxation dynamics in neodymium-doped phosphate laser glasses, J. Opt. Soc. Amer. B, vol. 8, pp. 13911403, 1991. [32] W. J. Miniscalco, Rare Earth Doped Fiber Lasers and Ampliers, M. J. F. Digonnet, Ed. Stanford, CA: Stanford Univ. Press, 1993, p. 19. [33] H. Ebendorff-Heidepriem, W. Seeber, and D. Ehrt, Spectroscopic properties of Nd ions in phosphate-glasses, J. Non-Cryst. Solids, vol. 183, pp. 191200, 1995. [34] S. A. Payne, C. D. Marshall, A. Bayramian, G. D. Wilke, and J. S. Hayden, Laser properties of a new average-power Nd-doped phosphate-glass, Appl. Phys. B, vol. 61, pp. 257266, 1995. [35] M. S. Mangir and D. A. Rockwell, Measurements of heating and energy-storage in ashlamp-pumped Nd-YaG and Nd-doped phosphate laser glasses, IEEE J. Quantum Electron, vol. 22, no. 4, pp. 574580, Apr. 1986.

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Djalmir N. Messias was born in Macei, Brazil, in 1977. He received the B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees in physics from the Federal University of Alagoas, Alagoas, Brazil, in 2000 and 2002, respectively, and the D.Sc. degree in physics from the Physics Institute of So Carlos-University of So Paulo (USP), Brazil, in 2006, for his work on thermal and electronic contributions to the refractive index changes of emitter ions doped materials. Since August 2006, he has been an Associate Professor at the Physics Institute of the Federal University of Uberlndia, Minas Gerais, Brazil. He was a Postdoctoral member of the Photonics Group of the Physics Institute of So Carlos of the University of So Paulo. His current research interests include development of novel glassy materials, nonlinear laser spectroscopy, photothermal phenomena in rare-earth, transition metal and quantum-dots-doped materials. Dr. Messias is a member of the Brazilian Physical Society and the Optical Society of America.

Maria Jose V. Bell was born in Chile in 1967. She received the B.Sc. degree in physics from the Federal University of Paran, Paran, Brazil, in 1989, the M.Sc. degree in physics from the Physics Institute of So CarlosUniversity of So Paulo (USP), Brazil, in 1993, and the D.Sc. degree from the University of Campinas (UNICAMP), Campinas, Brazil, in 1997, for her work in optical spectroscopy in delta doping semicondutors. In March 2000, she became Associate Professor at the Federal University of Juiz de Fora, Brazil. Her current research interests include: spectroscopic properties (determination radiative and nonradiative rates by using Judd Ofelt and the Dexter theory, respectively; energy transfer processes; quantum efciency; effects of impurities on the performance of systems, etc) of polymers, semiconductors, glasses and rare earths ions using mainly absorption (from the ultraviolet to the mid infrared region), luminescence, lifetime and Raman techniques; thermal properties of semiconductors by using the thermal lens technique; high-power solid-state lasers, etc.

Carlos Jacinto was born in Brazil. He received the B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees in physics from the Federal University of Alagoas, Alagoas, Brazil, in 2000 and 2002, respectively, and the D.Sc. degree from the Physics Institute of So CarlosUniversity of So Paulo (USP), Brazil, in 2006, for his work on thermooptical characterization of laser materials using the thermal lens technique. In August 2006, he became Associate Professor at the Physics Institute of the Federal University of Alagoas. His current research interests include: spectroscopic studies (energy transfer processes, uorescence quantum efciency, effects of impurities on the performance of systems, etc.) in polymers, solids, glasses and crystals doped with transition metals and rare earths ions using mainly the thermal lens and Z-scan techniques and conventional spectroscopy; thermal and electronics nonlinearities in materials with laser action; thermal and optical properties as a function of the temperature (at low and high temperatures); study of phase transition in ferroelectric and photorefractive materials; optimization of laser action in glasses and crystals; and high-power solid-state lasers, etc. Dr. Jacinto is a member of the Brazilian Physical Society and the Optical Society of American (OSA).

Tomaz Catunda was born in So Paulo, Brazil. He received the B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees in physics from the Instituto de Fsica e Qumica de So Carlos (IFSC), University of So Paulo, in 1982, 1984, and 1989, respectively. In 1986, he joined the IFSC as Assistant Professor where he is now Associated Professor. He performed postdoctoral research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, from 1990 to 1992. Presently, he is conducting research on optical, conventional spectroscopic, ultrasensitive spectroscopy, photothermal and nonlinear properties of several kinds of materials. Most of his research is focused in optically active ions in laser crystal and glasses. Dr. Catunda is a member of the Brazilian Physical Society and the Optical Society of America.