FZ growth of Ti3+:Al2O3 and its properties

Floating zone technique using an arc image furnace was applied for growing Ti3+ :Al203 single crystals with high doping levels. Up to 1 atom % of Ti was incorporated with relatively uniform concentration distribution. The disturbing optical absorption around 800 nm was found to increase parabolically with Ti concentration and its possible origin was suggested in relation to clustering in the crystal. Detection of no appreciable inclusions in the crystal eliminated the possibility of the scattering loss. The concentration quenching of the fluorescence lifetime was found to take place beyond 0.3 atom %.