The host driven local structures modulation towards broadband photoluminescence in neodymium-doped fluorite crystal

Abstract The lanthanide-doped materials have been widely used. The well shielded f orbitals make the f-f transitions be sharp lines and non-tunable which are hurdles to the generation of ultrashort lasers. In the work, the spectral properties of neodymium-doped fluorite crystal are modulated to be varied significantly with the compositions of the crystal. The first principles calculation is combined and the results show that there exist two types of centers of cubic and square antiprism sublattice clusters. The concentrations of the centers could be tuned in large scale by adjusting the compositions of the host. Then tunable broadband photoluminescence is obtained which is promising for the generation of ultrashort pulses. The designing of new ultrafast laser materials is highly expected in the rare-earth-doped fluoride crystals.