The oxyhalide rare earth doped laser glass of the present invention comprises the substitution of fluorine for oxygen in glasses having the general molar batch composition of 50% SiO.sub.2, 25% CaO, 25% Al.sub.2 O.sub.3 to improve the distribution of rare earth dopants in the glass. The general molar batch composition of the invention ranges from approximately 45-70% SiO.sub.2, 15-35% CaO, 10-25% Al.sub.2 O.sub.3, 4-15% Al.sub.2 F.sub.6, and 0.001-2% Er.sub.2 O.sub.3. This substitution of fluorine into the 2SiO.sub.2. Al.sub.2 O.sub.3. CaO glass system provides erbium doped laser glasses having a Er.sub.2 O.sub.3 batch content of 0.01 mole % Er.sub.2 O.sub.3 to 1.2 mole % Er.sub.2 O.sub.3 (500 ppm Er.sub.2 O.sub.3 to 5.68 wt. % Er.sub.2 O.sub.3) which show little to no concentration quenching and exhibit useful fluorescence lifetimes of approximately 6 milliseconds (ms) or greater.