Laser ions terbium

It is convenient to divide the ions studied into four groupings, namely, terbium, europium, neodymium, and other trivalent ions. The reason for this grouping is that terbium, europium, and neodymium have been studied more extensively than the rest, and therefore the number of papers is larger. The greater attention paid to these trivalent ions is probably one of practical or potential practical applications to lasers. 

Cabezas and DeShazer (43) studied terbium lifetimes in Hughes borosili-cate glass. Their work was concerned with radiative transfer of energy between rare earth ions. That is, they were interested in finding photon-capture systems that would be useful for possible laser applications. They... 

As with terbium, a great deal of study has been made upon this ion in hopes of using it in a visible laser. Experiments along this line appear to have been very successful, and reports have been made on oscillation in crystals (757), glasses, and liquids (138). 

To a very large extent, most of the recent data on fluorescent decay times of the other trivalent ions (those beside terbium, neodymium, and europium) stems in some way from laser experiments. In this section some representative data on these are considered. 

The commercially important samarium-containing minerals are treated with concentrated sulfuric acid or, in the case of monazite, with a solution of sodium hydroxide (73%) at approximately 40°C (104°E) and under pressure. The element is separated from the solutions via solvent extraction or ion exchange. Sm salts are weakly yellow and may exhibit ion emission. Sm ions show luminescence and are sometimes used to generate lasers. Samarium is used in the manufacture of headphones and tape drivers, see ALSO Cerium Dysprosium Erbium Europium Gadolinium Holmium Lanthanum Lutetium Neodymium Praseodymium Promethium Terbium Ytterbium. 

Despite all the technological applications and investigations of rare-earth YAG lasers, the optical spectra of some of the rare-earth ions in this host are of questionable quality and in some cases nonexistent. Only two rare-earth ions in YAG, neodymium and erbium, have been thoroughly investigated and reported. This is rather surprising when compared to lanthanum trifluoride (LaFa), for which Kaminskii reports only 16 lasers, although abundant excellent data exist (Camall et al., 1977) for all of the rare-earth ions in LaFs except terbium. 

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