We report the measurement of the amplification cross section σ
21of the Nd
3+ion in the POCl
3-SnCl
4-(H
2O) system by three different methods. The first is based on the simultaneous measurement of the variation of fluorescence and

-spoiled laser emission. The second is purely spectroscopic. The third is based on the measurement of k
12at several temperatures. The two last methods give similar results. The most probable value is

cm
2. An explanation for the lowest value

cm
2found with the first method is given.