Structural, thermal and spectroscopic properties of highly Er3+-doped novel oxyfluoride glasses for photonic application

• Er3+-doped novel oxyfluoride glasses have been prepared by melt quenching technique.
• Structural, thermal and spectroscopic properties have been carried out.
• SALSFEr glasses exhibit intense green and weak red emissions at 365 nm excitation.
• Major laser transition for Er3+ ion in SALSFEr glasses is 4I13/2 → 4I15/2 (1.53 μm).
• These results suggest the possibility of using SALSFEr glasses as photonic devices.

The Er3+-doped novel oxyfluoride glasses of composition (43 − x)SiO2–10Al2O3–24LiF–23SrF2–xEr2O3, where x = 1.0, 2.0, 4.0 and 6.0 mol%, have been prepared by conventional melt quenching technique and are characterized through X-ray diffraction (XRD), differential thermal analysis (DTA), Raman, Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) analysis, optical absorption spectra, visible (vis) and near-infrared (NIR) emission spectra measurements. Judd–Ofelt (JO) intensity parameters (Ωλ, λ = 2, 4 and 6) have been derived from the absorption spectrum of 1.0 mol% Er2O3 doped glass and are in turn used to calculate radiative properties for the important luminescent levels of Er3+ ions. The studied glasses show intense green and weak red visible emissions under 365 nm excitation. The decrease in visible emission intensities with concentration of Er3+ ions has been explained due to energy transfer processes between Er3+ ions. Upon excitation at 980 nm laser diode, an intense 1.53 μm NIR emission has been observed with the maximum full width at half maximum (FWHM) for Er3+-doped oxyfluoride glasses. The higher Er3+ ion doping capability and relatively high gain and broad emission at 1.5 μm are the most notable features of these glasses to realize efficient short-length optical amplifiers.

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