Growth, spectroscopic properties and crystal field analysis of Cr3+ doped GdScO3 crystal

Cr-doped GdScO3 single crystals were grown by the EFG method. Based on their absorption and emission spectras, the crystal field strength and the crystal field parameters of the octahedrally-coordinated Cr3+ ions were determined: Dq = 1553 cm-1, B = 574 cm-1, C = 3211 cm-1, and Dq/B = 2.71 for 0.5% Cr:GdScO3. Effective phonon energy was calculated to be 412 cm−1, and the Huang–Rhys factor was 3.0. The emission spectra of Cr3+ doped GdScO3 crystal covered the region from 650 nm to 1100 nm, and the emission cross-section at 767 nm was calculated to be 0.32×10−20 cm2. In comparison with the other Cr3+ doped materials, the Cr:GdScO3 crystal has a short fluorescence lifetime, it can be used as a potential tunable laser gain medium.