Luminescence and laser action of Nd/sup 3+/ doped double chloride crystal

Summary form only given. The low-energy phonon spectrum of chloride crystals allows rare-earth ions to serve as favorable luminescent centers for laser action in the IR spectral region, whereas the luminescence of fluoride and oxide crystals is quenched by fast multiphonon relaxation. We have searched for a crystalline chloride matrix suitable for diode-pumped lasers. The knowledge of radiative probabilities of the transitions in rare-earth ions is useful for prediction of possible practical applications, and for this reason we studied the optical spectra of double chloride KPb/sub 2/Cl/sub 5/-Nd/sup 3+/ crystals.