Enhancing extraction efficiency of mid-infrared fluorescence in chalcogenide glass via photonic crystal

• Extraction efficiency of the mid-IR fluorescence was controlled via photonic crystal.
• 1.62 times enhancement of extraction efficiency was obtained with optimized 2D PCs.
• The design methods in this work could be easily extended to other RE-doped glasses.

The use of rare earth-doped chalcogenide glass is an attractive method to develop mid-infrared sources. In this work, Er3+-doped chalcogenide glass is prepared, and photonic crystal (PC) pattern is designed to improve the extraction efficiency of light emission from the sample surface. The finite difference time domain simulation shows that the light extraction efficiency from the sample surface can be 1.62 times stronger than that from the sample without PC structure by introducing a simple two-dimensional (2D) PC structure into glass samples. This improvement was the result of the efficient light diffraction on the surface because of the integrated 2D PC. Results in this work offer a potential in developing midinfrared light sources.