Long fluorescence lifetime of Ti3+-doped low silica calcium aluminosilicate glass

This Letter reports the formation of Ti3+ in OH- free aluminosilicate glass melted under vacuum condition, with a very long lifetime (170 mu s) and broad emission band shifted towards the visible region. This lifetime value was attributed to the trapping of the excited electrons by the glass defects and detrapping by thermal energy, and it is 2 orders of magnitude higher than those published for Ti3+ doped materials. Our results suggest that this glass is a promising system to overcome the challenge of extending the spectral range of traditional tunable solid state lasers towards the visible region.