Model of Laser-Induced Temperature Changes in Solid-State Optical Refrigerators.

摘要

We present an efficient and numerically stable method to calculate time-dependent, laser-induced temperature distributions in solids and provide a detailed description of the computational procedure and its implementation. This study combines the two-dimensional heat equation with laser-induced heat generation and temperature-dependent luminescence. The time-dependent optical response of a system is obtained numerically by the Crank Nicolson method. This general model is applied to the specific case of optical refrigeration in ytterbium (Yb3+) doped fluorozirconate glass (ZBLAN). The laser-induced temperature change upon optical pumping and the respective transient luminescence response are calculated and compared to experimental data. The model successfully predicts the zero-crossing temperature, the net quantum efficiency, and the functional shape of the transients. We find that the laser- cooling transients have a fast and a slow component that are determined by the excited-state lifetime of the luminescent ion and the thermal properties of the bulk, respectively. The tools presented here may find application in the design of a wide range of optical and optoelectronic devices.