Widely tunable lasing in Nd-doped titanate glass prepared by aerodynamic levitation melting

Nontraditional glasses obtained from containerless processing techniques such as aerodynamic levitation melting have attracted much attention in recent decades for their unique structural motifs and optical properties. Herein, we report what is the first demonstration of lasing from any glass derived this way. Spectroscopic properties are studied in detail and the host is seen to have a high active ion solubility, with a quenching concentration of 6.8 x 10^20 ions/cm^3. Laser experiments were carried out with a 1 mm thick glass disc of composition 0.5 Nd2O3-16.5 La2O3-83TiO2 glass. Slope efficiency with respect to absorbed power reaches 41% and beam quality is good ($M^2$=1.88). Notably, the inhomogeneous broadening driven by the unconventional glass network's structural diversity enables a wide continuous tuning range spanning 1057-1115 nm. These outcomes provide impetus to continue research into spectroscopic and lasing properties of nontraditional glass gain media.