Neodymium radiation effects

Hoskins and Soffer (117) measured the fluorescent lifetime of the neodymium 4Fy2 state in yttrium oxide. They found a value of approximately 260 /zsec both at room temperature and at liquid-nitrogen temperature. They also observed a weaker long-lived component in the decay. They were unable to say whether this was evidence for a low-transition-probability ion site, or an effect of trapping of the resonance radiation near 0.9 /x. They report laser action, with a threshold of 260joules. This is a fairly high value for most crystalline materials. 

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