Spectroscopic analysis of Nd/Al co-doped silica glass fabricated by laser additive manufacturing

In this work, Nd/Al co-doped silica glass was prepared by laser additive manufacturing. The doping concentrations of Nd ³⁺ and Al ³⁺ ions were measured to be 1.36 wt% and 1.71 wt%, respectively. A long fluorescence lifetime 664 μs in silica glass was achieved. Based on the measured absorption spectrum, the Judd-Ofelt ( J-O) parameters of Nd ³⁺ ions in matrix were calculated by J-O theory, which are Ω 2 = 7 . 57 × 1 0 − 20 cm − 2 , Ω 4 = 8 . 01 × 1 0 − 20 cm − 2 , Ω 6 = 3 . 17 × 1 0 − 20 cm − 2 , respectively. The value of Ω 4 / Ω 6 is 2.53, indicating that Nd/Al co-doped silica glass has good spectral quality. The results demonstrate that Nd/Al co-doped silica glass manufactured by the laser additive manufacturing possesses excellent optical properties, which can be used in high-energy laser and amplification devices and promote the development of Nd-doped fiber lasers in the future.