Optical properties of Tm-doped GaSe single crystals

Optical properties of Tm-doped GaSe single crystals were investigated by measurements of optical absorption and photoluminescence. The single crystals were grown by the Bridgman technique. The X-ray diffraction analysis revealed that the single crystals were in the ε-type GaSe phase. The optical absorption spectra showed a sharp absorption peak at 582 nm near the band edge, which is due to direct free exciton. The temperature dependence of the energy of the exciton absorption peak was well fitted by the Varshni relation. In the photoluminescence spectrum at 10 K, we observed a very weak emission peak at 586 nm, a relatively strong emission peak centered at 613 nm, and several sharp and narrow emission peaks in the 790–840 nm region. The two emission peaks at 586 and 613 nm were associated with intrinsic emission lines due to direct free exciton and indirect bound exciton. The emission peaks in the 790–840 nm region, which were related to extrinsic emission, were assigned as due to the 3F4→3H6 transition of Tm3+ ions with a low symmetry of D3 in the host lattice.