Near infrared emission properties of Nd doped Potassium Lead Halides

The incorporation of rare earth (RE) ions into host materials with low maximum phonon energies provides opportunities for improved RE infrared emission properties. In this work, we evaluated the IR emission from Nd doped potassium lead halides, namely Nd: KPb$_{2}$Cl$_{5}$ and Nd: KPb$_{2}$Br$_{5}$, for possible applications in IR lasers and optical communications. Both halides are nearly non-hygroscopic and have low maximum phonon energies, which reduces non-radiative decay rates through multi-phonon relaxations. Following optical excitation at 800nm, near IR emission bands were observed from the $^{4}$F$_{5/2}$ and $^{4}$F$_{3/2}$ excited states of Nd$^{3+}$. The $^{4}$F$_{5/2}$ level was strongly quenched through non-radiative processes in Nd: KPb$_{2}$Cl$_{5}$. On the contrary, for Nd: KPb$_{2}$Br$_{5}$ the $^{4}$F$_{5/2}$ was highly radiative with an emission efficiency of $\sim $50{\%}. More detailed results of the material synthesis, purification, steady-state and time-resolved emission spectroscopy will be presented at the conference.