Intensity quenching of the F3+ colour centre emission in lithium fluoride

In order to evaluate the possibility of tunable F2/F3+ continuous wave colour centre laser operation in LiF crystals at room temperature, we performed an investigation of the emission characteristics of γ-irradiated LiF crystals under continuous wave argon ion laser excitation at room temperature. We measured a strong quenching of the F3+ emission intensity that was dependent on the pumping laser power. The characteristic decay times of the F3+ luminescence bands were also investigated with different pumping powers and a model for the recombination kinetics is discussed. (author)